Around 655 million people worldwide still lack access to electricity, 8 percent of the world’s population. This information has emerged in a recent report of the United Nations.
According to the report, the largest share of these people without access to electricity are in sub-Saharan Africa.
On the other hand, about 1.8 billion people in the world are currently using polluting fuels and technologies for cooking, which poses a serious threat to their health. The latest report on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was released on Wednesday. Sub-Saharan Africa is the worst in this regard, with more than 560 million people without electricity at home and 970 million without access to clean cooking. To ensure access to electricity for all by 2030, the report says, the pace of work in the region needs to triple.
Despite all these challenges, the report offers some hope for strength. For example, the use of renewable energy is gradually increasing and currently more than 30 percent of total global electricity comes from renewable or non-renewable energy.
However, the report warns that unless drastic measures are taken soon, the goal of ensuring affordable, reliable and modern energy for all by 2030 will never be achieved. “It is true that the energy sector has improved a lot in the past few years, but millions of people remain without it today,” said Li Junhua, a senior UN official. He added that the current energy crisis must be seen as an opportunity to increase the use of clean energy and that international investment and support is urgently needed.