Changes in energy use vs. changes in GDP per capita by country

Consumption-based (trade-adjusted) primary energy use measures domestic energy use minus energy used to produce exported goods, plus energy used to produce imported goods. Gross domestic product (GDP) is adjusted for inflation and differences in living costs between countries.

Countries reporting
43
Highest
130,787 kilowatt-hours
Luxembourg
Lowest
10,500 kilowatt-hours
India
Median
52,800 kilowatt-hours
Years covered
26
1995–2020
Data points
1,113

What the numbers show

Changes in energy use vs. changes in GDP per capita is currently reported for 43 countries. The highest value is 130,787 kilowatt-hours in Luxembourg; the lowest is 10,500 kilowatt-hours in India.

The median across all reporting countries is 52,800 kilowatt-hours, and the mean is 51,156 kilowatt-hours.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 12.

Over the past decade 25 countries rose and 18 fell. The largest increase was in Ireland (up 70.9%), and the largest decrease in Australia (down 27.3%).

Changes in energy use vs. changes in GDP per capita: full country ranking

#Country LatestYear 10-year changeTrend
1 Luxembourg 130,787 kilowatt-hours 2020 up 25.4% rising
2 Ireland 98,800 kilowatt-hours 2020 up 70.9% rising
3 United States 97,300 kilowatt-hours 2020 up 6.9% falling
4 Canada 82,100 kilowatt-hours 2020 down 3.9% flat
5 Finland 79,500 kilowatt-hours 2020 down 0.4% flat
6 Norway 78,200 kilowatt-hours 2020 down 13.7% rising
7 Netherlands 74,600 kilowatt-hours 2020 down 1.3% flat
8 Belgium 69,800 kilowatt-hours 2020 up 23.8% rising
9 Malta 69,700 kilowatt-hours 2020 up 2.3% rising
10 Greece 61,600 kilowatt-hours 2020 down 1.4% falling
11 Estonia 60,000 kilowatt-hours 2020 up 34.2% rising
12 South Korea 59,800 kilowatt-hours 2020 up 12.8% rising
13 Germany 59,100 kilowatt-hours 2020 up 0.9% falling
13 Denmark 59,100 kilowatt-hours 2020 down 4.2% falling
15 Sweden 57,300 kilowatt-hours 2020 down 5.3% falling
16 Cyprus 56,500 kilowatt-hours 2020 down 6.3% falling
17 Austria 55,500 kilowatt-hours 2020 up 2.6% flat
18 Australia 55,000 kilowatt-hours 2020 down 27.3% flat
19 France 53,700 kilowatt-hours 2020 down 4.8% falling
20 Switzerland 53,400 kilowatt-hours 2020 down 19.1% falling
21 Japan 53,100 kilowatt-hours 2019 up 16.2% falling
22 Czechia 52,800 kilowatt-hours 2020 up 14.3% rising
23 Lithuania 50,600 kilowatt-hours 2020 up 53.3% falling
24 Slovenia 49,900 kilowatt-hours 2020 up 2.9% falling
25 Hungary 49,300 kilowatt-hours 2020 up 27.7% rising
26 Slovakia 47,700 kilowatt-hours 2020 up 0.2% flat
27 United Kingdom 45,800 kilowatt-hours 2020 down 1.7% falling
28 Russia 44,900 kilowatt-hours 2020 up 12.0% rising
29 Latvia 42,700 kilowatt-hours 2020 up 37.3% volatile
30 Italy 39,400 kilowatt-hours 2020 down 10.9% falling
31 Spain 33,800 kilowatt-hours 2020 down 10.3% falling
32 Poland 32,900 kilowatt-hours 2020 up 6.5% rising
33 Croatia 32,200 kilowatt-hours 2020 up 15.4% rising
34 Portugal 30,400 kilowatt-hours 2020 down 1.3% falling
35 Bulgaria 28,300 kilowatt-hours 2020 up 19.9% rising
36 China 28,100 kilowatt-hours 2020 up 49.5% rising
37 Romania 26,000 kilowatt-hours 2020 up 20.9% rising
38 Mexico 21,900 kilowatt-hours 2020 up 22.3% flat
39 South Africa 21,800 kilowatt-hours 2020 down 9.9% falling
40 Turkey 20,500 kilowatt-hours 2020 down 2.8% rising
41 Brazil 13,800 kilowatt-hours 2020 down 13.2% rising
42 Indonesia 11,500 kilowatt-hours 2020 up 19.4% rising
43 India 10,500 kilowatt-hours 2020 up 61.0% rising

About this data

Indicator
Changes in energy use vs. changes in GDP per capita
Unit
kilowatt-hours
Source
Kulionis (2021) – processed by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
43 places, 1,113 data points, 1995–2020
Last refreshed

Consumption-based (trade-adjusted) primary energy use measures domestic energy use minus energy used to produce exported goods, plus energy used to produce imported goods. Gross domestic product (GDP) is adjusted for inflation and differences in living costs between countries.