Share of electricity generation from renewables in Zambia
Zambia: Share of electricity generation from renewables was 87.5% in 2024. ▼ Falling
Share of electricity generation from renewables in Zambia, 2000–2024
Source: Ember (2026) and other sources – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
Zambia recorded 87.5% for share of electricity generation from renewables in 2024.
That represents a change of down 1.7% on the previous year and down 10.0% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of electricity generation from renewables in Zambia peaked at 99.9% in 2011 and was at its lowest, 84.6%, in 2018.
That places Zambia 24th out of 213 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 25 years of available data.
Share of electricity generation from renewables in Zambia, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 99.5% | — |
| 2001 | 99.4% | -0.1% |
| 2002 | 99.3% | -0.1% |
| 2003 | 99.3% | +0.0% |
| 2004 | 99.4% | +0.1% |
| 2005 | 99.3% | -0.1% |
| 2006 | 99.9% | +0.6% |
| 2007 | 99.9% | -0.0% |
| 2008 | 99.9% | -0.0% |
| 2009 | 99.9% | +0.0% |
| 2010 | 99.9% | +0.0% |
| 2011 | 99.9% | +0.0% |
| 2012 | 99.8% | -0.1% |
| 2013 | 99.8% | +0.0% |
| 2014 | 97.2% | -2.7% |
| 2015 | 97.0% | -0.1% |
| 2016 | 94.3% | -2.8% |
| 2017 | 86.3% | -8.5% |
| 2018 | 84.6% | -2.0% |
| 2019 | 84.7% | +0.0% |
| 2020 | 85.5% | +1.0% |
| 2021 | 92.0% | +7.6% |
| 2022 | 88.9% | -3.3% |
| 2023 | 89.0% | +0.1% |
| 2024 | 87.5% | -1.7% |
Zambia compared with similar countries
- Zambia's 87.5% is above the median for lower middle income countries, which is 36.1%, 2.4× the median. (47 countries reporting)
- Zambia's 87.5% is above the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 32.1%, 2.7× the median. (48 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 99.6% | 99.3% | 99.9% | 10 |
| 2010s | 94.4% | 84.6% | 99.9% | 10 |
| 2020s | 88.6% | 85.5% | 92.0% | 5 |
Countries ranked near Zambia
More energy & mining data for Zambia
- Fossil fuel consumption by fuel, per unit of GDP 0 terawatt-hours per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Primary energy use, annual growth rate 0.0312 % change on previous year (2024)
- Coal consumption, per capita 0 terawatt-hours per person (2024)
- Coal consumption, per unit of GDP 0 terawatt-hours per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Primary energy use, per unit of GDP 0 terawatt-hours per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Primary energy use, per capita 0 terawatt-hours per person (2024)
- Coal production, per capita 0 terawatt-hours per person (2024)
- Coal production, per unit of GDP 0 terawatt-hours per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Fossil fuel consumption by fuel, per capita 0 terawatt-hours per person (2024)
- Fuel imports 22.9% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of electricity generation from renewables in Zambia?
- Share of electricity generation from renewables in Zambia was 87.5% in 2024, according to Ember (2026) and other sources – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest share of electricity generation from renewables recorded in Zambia?
- The highest recorded value was 99.9% in 2011.
- What is the lowest share of electricity generation from renewables recorded in Zambia?
- The lowest recorded value was 84.6% in 2018.
- How does Zambia rank for share of electricity generation from renewables?
- Zambia ranks 24th out of 213 countries with data for 2024.
- Is share of electricity generation from renewables rising or falling in Zambia?
- Over the last ten years it is down 10.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Zambia data come from?
- The figures come from Ember (2026) and other sources – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Share of electricity generation from renewables. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 25 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Measured as a percentage of total electricity produced in the country or region.