Electricity production from coal sources in South Africa
South Africa: Electricity production from coal sources was 81.6% in 2023. ▼ Falling
Electricity production from coal sources in South Africa, 1990–2023
Source: IEA Energy Statistics Data Browser, International Energy Agency (IEA). Measured in % of total.
Analysis
The most recent figure for electricity production from coal sources in South Africa is 81.6%, measured in 2023. That is the lowest value across all 34 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 1.3% on the previous year and down 10.7% over ten years.
Over the whole period, electricity production from coal sources in South Africa peaked at 95.0% in 1993 and was at its lowest, 81.6%, in 2023.
That places South Africa 5th out of 210 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 34 years of available data.
Electricity production from coal sources in South Africa, year by year
| Year | % of total | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 93.2% | — |
| 1991 | 92.3% | -1.0% |
| 1992 | 93.2% | +1.0% |
| 1993 | 95.0% | +1.9% |
| 1994 | 93.1% | -2.0% |
| 1995 | 92.8% | -0.3% |
| 1996 | 92.4% | -0.4% |
| 1997 | 91.7% | -0.8% |
| 1998 | 91.3% | -0.4% |
| 1999 | 91.9% | +0.7% |
| 2000 | 91.8% | -0.1% |
| 2001 | 92.9% | +1.2% |
| 2002 | 92.5% | -0.5% |
| 2003 | 92.9% | +0.5% |
| 2004 | 92.5% | -0.4% |
| 2005 | 93.5% | +1.1% |
| 2006 | 93.6% | +0.1% |
| 2007 | 93.7% | +0.1% |
| 2008 | 93.3% | -0.5% |
| 2009 | 93.1% | -0.2% |
| 2010 | 93.2% | +0.1% |
| 2011 | 92.6% | -0.7% |
| 2012 | 92.9% | +0.3% |
| 2013 | 91.4% | -1.6% |
| 2014 | 90.6% | -0.9% |
| 2015 | 89.7% | -0.9% |
| 2016 | 89.4% | -0.3% |
| 2017 | 88.7% | -0.9% |
| 2018 | 88.3% | -0.5% |
| 2019 | 87.0% | -1.5% |
| 2020 | 87.1% | +0.1% |
| 2021 | 83.2% | -4.5% |
| 2022 | 82.7% | -0.6% |
| 2023 | 81.6% | -1.3% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 92.7% | 91.3% | 95.0% | 10 |
| 2000s | 93.0% | 91.8% | 93.7% | 10 |
| 2010s | 90.4% | 87.0% | 93.2% | 10 |
| 2020s | 83.6% | 81.6% | 87.1% | 4 |
Countries ranked near South Africa
More energy & mining data for South Africa
- Fossil fuel consumption by fuel, per unit of GDP 0 terawatt-hours per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Primary energy use, annual growth rate -0.3095 % change on previous year (2025)
- Coal consumption, per capita 0 terawatt-hours per person (2025)
- Coal consumption, per unit of GDP 0 terawatt-hours per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Primary energy use, per unit of GDP 0 terawatt-hours per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Primary energy use, per capita 0 terawatt-hours per person (2025)
- Coal production, per capita 0 terawatt-hours per person (2025)
- Coal production, per unit of GDP 0 terawatt-hours per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Fossil fuel consumption by fuel, per capita 0 terawatt-hours per person (2025)
- Fuel imports 17.7% (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is electricity production from coal sources in South Africa?
- Electricity production from coal sources in South Africa was 81.6% in 2023, according to IEA Energy Statistics Data Browser, International Energy Agency (IEA).
- What is the highest electricity production from coal sources recorded in South Africa?
- The highest recorded value was 95.0% in 1993.
- What is the lowest electricity production from coal sources recorded in South Africa?
- The lowest recorded value was 81.6% in 2023.
- How does South Africa rank for electricity production from coal sources?
- South Africa ranks 5th out of 210 countries with data for 2023.
- Is electricity production from coal sources rising or falling in South Africa?
- Over the last ten years it is down 10.7%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this South Africa data come from?
- The figures come from IEA Energy Statistics Data Browser, International Energy Agency (IEA), published as part of Electricity production from coal sources (% of total). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 34 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
The share of electricity production from coal sources of total electricity production. Sources of electricity refer to the inputs used to generate electricity. Coal refers to all coal and brown coal, both primary (including hard coal and lignite-brown coal) and derived fuels (including patent fuel, coke oven coke, gas coke, coke oven gas, and blast furnace gas). Peat is also included in this category.