placestats

Electricity use per person vs. Researchers

Fades after adjusting for income

Across 131 countries, Electricity use per person and Researchers rise and fall together at r = +0.52 (on a scale from −1 to +1, where 0 means no link). Comparing only countries with similar income (GDP per person) shrinks it to +0.18, which could easily be chance (q = 0.54, allowing for the many pairs tested, and allowing for countries in the same region being alike). So the first figure mostly shows richer countries differing from poorer ones, not a link between these two things. Caution: direction is not consistent across regions.

Comparing countries across the middle half of electricity use per person, 1,125 to 6,592 kWh per person, researchers is better by 1,144 per million people at the top of that range than the bottom. Comparing only countries with similar national income, the gap is 358 per million people.

Link before adjusting (r)+0.524p = 1.4e-10 · 131 countries
After adjusting for national income+0.177p = 0.043 · likely range [+0.01, +0.34]
p, allowing for regions0.341standard error 0.172 · 7 regions
Check for luck (q)0.539across 13,797 pairs

How to read these.r runs from −1 (one goes up as the other goes down) to +1 (they rise together), and 0 means no link. Adjusting for national income means comparing countries with the same GDP per person, so differences in wealth can’t explain the link. Income is used in percentage terms, since an extra $1,000 means more to a poor country than to a rich one. p is how likely a link this strong would be if there were really none. Below 0.05 means it is unlikely to be chance. Very small values are written in short form: 1.1e-32 means a decimal point followed by 31 zeros and then 11, so very close to zero. The likely range is where the true figure probably lies, and a range that crosses zero means the link could easily be chance. Countries in the same region tend to resemble each other, so the third figure allows for that, which gives a fairer p. The standard error is the typical size of the error in r. Finally, testing this many pairs means some will look strong by luck alone. A q below 0.05 means this link is unlikely to be one of those.

Electricity use per person · kWh per personlink with income +0.93 · proxy
Researchers · per million peoplelink with income +0.85 · proxy

Both of these rise and fall closely with national income, so a strong link between them before adjusting was close to certain. Read the adjusted figure, not the first one.

“Link with income” is how closely each measure tracks GDP per person across countries, from −1 to +1.

Every country as a dot

Electricity use per person · kWh per person →Researchers · per million people →18.248,4241.459,472Angola: 411 kWh per person, 18.9 per million peopleAlbania: 3,106 kWh per person, 429 per million peopleUnited Arab Emirates: 16,053 kWh per person, 2,607 per million peopleArgentina: 3,543 kWh per person, 1,313 per million peopleArmenia: 2,757 kWh per person, 942 per million peopleAustralia: 10,615 kWh per person, 4,569 per million peopleAustria: 8,322 kWh per person, 6,634 per million peopleAzerbaijan: 2,613 kWh per person, 1,663 per million peopleBurundi: 40.6 kWh per person, 22.5 per million peopleBelgium: 7,361 kWh per person, 5,990 per million peopleBurkina Faso: 135 kWh per person, 46.6 per million peopleBulgaria: 5,440 kWh per person, 2,401 per million peopleBahrain: 23,919 kWh per person, 849 per million peopleBosnia and Herzegovina: 4,599 kWh per person, 705 per million peopleBelarus: 5,054 kWh per person, 1,568 per million peopleBolivia: 1,083 kWh per person, 63.1 per million peopleBrazil: 3,581 kWh per person, 903 per million peopleBrunei Darussalam: 12,016 kWh per person, 506 per million peopleBhutan: 15,742 kWh per person, 236 per million peopleBotswana: 1,852 kWh per person, 180 per million peopleCanada: 16,090 kWh per person, 5,624 per million peopleSwitzerland: 7,262 kWh per person, 6,108 per million peopleChile: 4,456 kWh per person, 707 per million peopleChina: 7,460 kWh per person, 2,107 per million peopleCongo, Dem. Rep.: 159 kWh per person, 10.1 per million peopleCongo, Rep.: 850 kWh per person, 127 per million peopleColombia: 1,715 kWh per person, 90.2 per million peopleCabo Verde: 991 kWh per person, 125 per million peopleCosta Rica: 2,416 kWh per person, 508 per million peopleCyprus: 4,311 kWh per person, 1,686 per million peopleCzechia: 6,413 kWh per person, 4,505 per million peopleGermany: 6,188 kWh per person, 5,926 per million peopleDenmark: 6,775 kWh per person, 8,838 per million peopleDominican Republic: 1,969 kWh per person, 20 per million peopleAlgeria: 2,005 kWh per person, 1,764 per million peopleEcuador: 2,003 kWh per person, 400 per million peopleEgypt, Arab Rep.: 2,064 kWh per person, 1,120 per million peopleSpain: 5,744 kWh per person, 3,654 per million peopleEstonia: 6,948 kWh per person, 4,800 per million peopleEthiopia: 229 kWh per person, 89 per million peopleFinland: 15,610 kWh per person, 8,315 per million peopleFrance: 7,152 kWh per person, 5,369 per million peopleUnited Kingdom: 4,621 kWh per person, 4,473 per million peopleGeorgia: 3,862 kWh per person, 1,896 per million peopleGhana: 634 kWh per person, 87.5 per million peopleGambia, The: 185 kWh per person, 50.9 per million peopleGreece: 5,590 kWh per person, 5,283 per million peopleGuatemala: 888 kWh per person, 1.45 per million peopleHong Kong SAR, China: 6,583 kWh per person, 5,874 per million peopleHonduras: 1,167 kWh per person, 188 per million peopleCroatia: 5,210 kWh per person, 2,440 per million peopleHungary: 5,077 kWh per person, 4,567 per million peopleIndonesia: 1,314 kWh per person, 395 per million peopleIndia: 1,423 kWh per person, 259 per million peopleIreland: 7,091 kWh per person, 5,753 per million peopleIran, Islamic Rep.: 4,281 kWh per person, 2,240 per million peopleIraq: 3,406 kWh per person, 164 per million peopleIceland: 48,424 kWh per person, 5,953 per million peopleItaly: 5,268 kWh per person, 2,855 per million peopleJordan: 2,054 kWh per person, 576 per million peopleJapan: 8,366 kWh per person, 5,609 per million peopleKazakhstan: 6,050 kWh per person, 758 per million peopleKenya: 271 kWh per person, 384 per million peopleCambodia: 1,254 kWh per person, 30.4 per million peopleKorea, Rep.: 12,090 kWh per person, 9,472 per million peopleKuwait: 18,402 kWh per person, 145 per million peopleSri Lanka: 743 kWh per person, 94.5 per million peopleLesotho: 248 kWh per person, 32.2 per million peopleLithuania: 4,353 kWh per person, 3,704 per million peopleLuxembourg: 9,846 kWh per person, 5,359 per million peopleLatvia: 4,057 kWh per person, 2,191 per million peopleMacao SAR, China: 8,719 kWh per person, 4,634 per million peopleMorocco: 1,255 kWh per person, 1,083 per million peopleMoldova: 2,059 kWh per person, 650 per million peopleMadagascar: 76 kWh per person, 32.9 per million peopleMexico: 2,703 kWh per person, 438 per million peopleNorth Macedonia: 4,604 kWh per person, 888 per million peopleMali: 223 kWh per person, 26 per million peopleMalta: 5,922 kWh per person, 2,355 per million peopleMyanmar: 402 kWh per person, 28 per million peopleMontenegro: 6,859 kWh per person, 764 per million peopleMongolia: 3,528 kWh per person, 535 per million peopleMozambique: 476 kWh per person, 44.4 per million peopleMauritius: 2,683 kWh per person, 689 per million peopleMalawi: 83.6 kWh per person, 25.2 per million peopleMalaysia: 5,556 kWh per person, 1,218 per million peopleNamibia: 1,333 kWh per person, 225 per million peopleNiger: 79.5 kWh per person, 26.9 per million peopleNigeria: 165 kWh per person, 22.1 per million peopleNetherlands: 6,601 kWh per person, 6,563 per million peopleNorway: 24,490 kWh per person, 7,451 per million peopleNew Zealand: 8,252 kWh per person, 5,435 per million peopleOman: 9,617 kWh per person, 739 per million peoplePakistan: 766 kWh per person, 474 per million peoplePanama: 2,943 kWh per person, 250 per million peoplePhilippines: 1,054 kWh per person, 320 per million peoplePapua New Guinea: 447 kWh per person, 33.2 per million peoplePoland: 4,570 kWh per person, 3,675 per million peoplePuerto Rico (US): 6,265 kWh per person, 332 per million peoplePortugal: 5,805 kWh per person, 5,983 per million peopleParaguay: 4,228 kWh per person, 139 per million peopleWest Bank and Gaza: 1,454 kWh per person, 584 per million peopleQatar: 18,030 kWh per person, 948 per million peopleRomania: 2,876 kWh per person, 1,082 per million peopleRussian Federation: 8,168 kWh per person, 2,639 per million peopleRwanda: 85.6 kWh per person, 133 per million peopleSaudi Arabia: 13,385 kWh per person, 1,235 per million peopleSenegal: 439 kWh per person, 572 per million peopleSingapore: 10,295 kWh per person, 8,782 per million peopleEl Salvador: 985 kWh per person, 55.5 per million peopleSerbia: 5,591 kWh per person, 2,688 per million peopleSlovak Republic: 4,886 kWh per person, 3,507 per million peopleSlovenia: 6,759 kWh per person, 5,616 per million peopleSweden: 12,866 kWh per person, 8,911 per million peopleEswatini: 1,328 kWh per person, 138 per million peopleSyrian Arab Republic: 984 kWh per person, 140 per million peopleChad: 18.2 kWh per person, 56.7 per million peopleTogo: 263 kWh per person, 57.8 per million peopleThailand: 3,143 kWh per person, 1,592 per million peopleTrinidad and Tobago: 6,334 kWh per person, 493 per million peopleTunisia: 2,016 kWh per person, 1,668 per million peopleTurkiye: 4,014 kWh per person, 2,645 per million peopleTanzania: 132 kWh per person, 19.3 per million peopleUganda: 107 kWh per person, 81.3 per million peopleUkraine: 2,719 kWh per person, 586 per million peopleUruguay: 4,358 kWh per person, 938 per million peopleUnited States: 13,061 kWh per person, 4,937 per million peopleUzbekistan: 2,419 kWh per person, 640 per million peopleViet Nam: 3,087 kWh per person, 836 per million peopleSouth Africa: 3,658 kWh per person, 444 per million peopleZimbabwe: 727 kWh per person, 95.1 per million peopleBDIBHRDNKFINISLKORKWTMWINERNORSGP

best-fit line line after adjusting

Four ways to measure the link

MethodrpCountries
Standard (Pearson), not adjusted+0.5241.4e-10131
By rank (Spearman), not adjusted+0.8134.0e-32131
Standard (Pearson), adjusted for national income+0.1770.043131
By rank (Spearman), adjusted for national income+0.1560.077131

The rank version uses only each country’s place in line, from lowest to highest, so a few extreme countries count for less. The adjusted and unadjusted versions use the same 131 countries: those that report both measures and GDP per person. So the gap between them comes from the adjustment, not from a change in which countries are counted. Drop in the size of r after adjusting: +0.346 (a minus sign means it grew).

How solid is it?

Leaving out one country at a time, r ranges from +0.144 (without NOR) to +0.227 (without BHR). The bar above shows that range on a scale from −1 to +1, with the solid line at the full result. The single country that moves r most: BHR (+0.049).

Fragile: this link may not hold up.
  • direction is not consistent across regions

Within each region

Countries are not separate, unrelated cases, and neighbors share a lot. A link that holds inside each region is far more believable than one that shows up only when comparing regions.

nr
East Asia & Pacific18+0.26
Europe & Central Asia45+0.23
Latin America & Caribbean17+0.24
Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan17-0.56
Sub-Saharan Africa29+0.40

By income third

If the link shows up only in the richest third of countries, it is a feature of rich countries, not a general pattern.

nr
Poorest third44+0.31
Middle third43+0.02
Richest third44-0.02

By largest religious group

Countries grouped by a label they share, such as main religion, rather than by a number. Groups of fewer than twelve countries are not shown. These groups differ in income, region and history all at once. So a gap between them is a place to start asking questions, not an answer.

nr
Christians80+0.41
Muslims32-0.35

By last european coloniser

Countries grouped by a label they share, such as main religion, rather than by a number. Groups of fewer than twelve countries are not shown. These groups differ in income, region and history all at once. So a gap between them is a place to start asking questions, not an answer.

nr
France13-0.07
Never a European colony15+0.25
Spain16+0.39
United Kingdom36-0.14

Without outliers (countries far outside the middle half of countries on either measure, by more than one and a half times the width of that middle half): r = +0.274 after dropping 13 countries.

Two series, one country

Both measures over the years for one country you pick. The two charts are stacked so they share only the years along the bottom.

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Over time, within countries

Everything above compares countries with each other at one moment. This section compares each country only with itself over 29years. So a link here can’t come from anything about a country that stays the same, such as its history, geography, institutions or culture.

Within countries over time, there is no link that is clearly more than chance (r = -0.067, comparing each country only with itself over the years, and each year only with the same year elsewhere). Whatever the cross-country picture shows, countries whose electricity use per person moved did not tend to see their researchers move with it.

Across countries (adjusted)+0.177for comparison
Within countries+0.095each country vs itself
…and vs the same year elsewhere-0.067q = 0.653 · 101 countries
Year-on-year changes+0.017q = 0.763
Read with care.
  • Almost all of this indicator's variation is between countries, not within them, so the within-country estimate rests on a small part of the data.

1,788 country-years (one country in one year), 101 countries, 1996–2024, about 18 years each on average. Share of the variation that happens within countries over time: 4% for Electricity use per person, 13% for Researchers. The margins of error allow for each country appearing many times, and for each year’s value being close to the year before.

Year-to-year changes are a cautious test, not a final answer. Looking only at changes from one year to the next removes each country’s own trends. But it also makes measurement mistakes louder, which pulls the results toward zero. A near-zero result here is weak evidence of no link, not proof.

With one measure years behind the other

0.20−0.2-100+10years Researchers trails Electricity use per person →lag -10: r = 0.173 (n = 1,187)lag -9: r = 0.175 (n = 1,269)lag -8: r = 0.158 (n = 1,355)lag -7: r = 0.140 (n = 1,430)lag -6: r = 0.103 (n = 1,512)lag -5: r = 0.081 (n = 1,592)lag -4: r = 0.069 (n = 1,668)lag -3: r = 0.029 (n = 1,721)lag -2: r = -0.005 (n = 1,778)lag -1: r = -0.048 (n = 1,796)lag +0: r = -0.067 (n = 1,788)lag +1: r = -0.078 (n = 1,764)lag +2: r = -0.093 (n = 1,737)lag +3: r = -0.104 (n = 1,701)lag +4: r = -0.111 (n = 1,672)lag +5: r = -0.116 (n = 1,641)lag +6: r = -0.094 (n = 1,602)lag +7: r = -0.072 (n = 1,542)lag +8: r = -0.070 (n = 1,474)lag +9: r = -0.055 (n = 1,413)lag +10: r = -0.011 (n = 1,339)

Same year (lag 0): -0.067. A peak away from zero does not show which comes first. These series change slowly — this year’s value is close to last year’s. That makes the curve smooth and nearly symmetric, whatever produced the data. Even a sharp peak at one lag (a gap of some years) would not prove that one measure changes the other.

The largest value on this curve (+0.17 at lag -9) is higher than the same-year one by 0.11. That gap is not a finding. It is the largest of 21 closely related estimates, and picking the biggest of many tests always makes it look bigger. That is exactly why nothing on this site is ranked or chosen by lag.

The data


kWh per person
per million people		Years
Iceland ISL48,4245,9532024, 2023
Norway NOR24,4907,4512025, 2023
Bahrain BHR23,9198492024
Kuwait KWT18,4021452025, 2024
Qatar QAT18,0309482025, 2021
Canada CAN16,0905,6242025, 2022
United Arab Emirates ARE16,0532,6072024, 2021
Bhutan BTN15,7422362024
Finland FIN15,6108,3152025, 2023
Saudi Arabia SAU13,3851,2352024
United States USA13,0614,9372025, 2022
Sweden SWE12,8668,9112025, 2023
Korea, Rep. KOR12,0909,4722025, 2023
Brunei Darussalam BRN12,0165062024, 2022
Australia AUS10,6154,5692025, 2010

Ember, Yearly Electricity Data; population from Our World in Data, with processing by Our World in Data
World Bank, World Development Indicators

Sources

Electricity use per person

Electricity demand per person (kWh)

Ember · via Our World in Data · CC BY 4.0 · updated annual

All the electricity a country uses in a year, divided by its population, in kilowatt-hours (kWh). One kWh runs a 100-watt bulb for ten hours. It counts the power made at home plus imports, minus exports, including the power lost in wires along the way. So it is a little higher than "consumption" figures that leave those losses out. Use per person ranges from under 100 kWh a year in parts of Africa to over 50,000 in Iceland, where aluminium smelters use most of it, so a few industries can set a small country's figure. It rises steeply with income, and is measured in percentage terms (on a log scale) where it is used for adjusting. No "better" direction is set: more electricity can mean more comfort and industry, or more waste.

Researchers

Researchers in R&D (per million people)

UNESCO Institute for Statistics · CC BY 4.0 · updated quarterly

Researchers counted as full-time equivalents (two half-time researchers count as one), from national research surveys that many countries run only now and then. So coverage is thin outside the OECD.

How this was computed

Data used: most recent value in 2010-2025; values come from 2010–2025. To adjust for income, each measure is first predicted from GDP per person (in percentage terms, on a log scale) with a straight-line fit. Only what is left over is then compared. This is called a partial correlation. The line is drawn the standard way (ordinary least squares), which picks the line that comes closest to all the countries at once. The error margins allow for countries in the same region resembling each other, using 7 World Bank regions. The q-value corrects for testing all 13,797 pairs at once, using the Benjamini–Hochberg method. Underlying data last updated DYB 2024. How the country data works · explore Electricity use per person and Researchers

This page shows that two measures go together. It does not show that Electricity use per person changes Researchers, or the reverse. These figures also describe countries, not individual people. See the ecological fallacy.

More links with Electricity use per person or Researchers