JH.
← All Side Quests
Sep 7, 2026Data

The Long Wire

Compare rural and urban electricity access around the world, see where the gap is widest, and follow how it changed from 2000 to 2024.

Start here

A quick guide to this quest.

Electricity access is often summarized as one national percentage. That average can hide a very different picture for people living in rural areas than for people living in cities. This project puts the World Bank's two estimates side by side so the difference stays visible.

  1. Start with the ranking

    The opening view uses 2024 data and lists economies with the largest difference between urban and rural access first.

  2. Choose one economy

    Select a row or a dot to update the history chart and see whether the difference narrowed, widened, or contains missing years.

  3. Change the comparison

    Move the year, filter to a region, or rank by a different question. Every view updates to match your selection.

Access
The estimated share of the rural or urban population with access to electricity.
Urban–rural gap
Urban access minus rural access, measured in percentage points. A 20-point gap could mean 90% urban access and 70% rural access.
Paired record
An economy and year for which both rural and urban estimates are available.
Economy
The World Bank's term for a country or territory represented in this dataset.
Side Quest / DataStart with the 2024 ranking, then select an economy to see its history.

World Bank electricity-access data · 2000–2024

Compare urban and
rural access.

National averages can hide who is being left out. This project compares the estimated share of urban and rural residents with electricity access. Start with the ranked list, then choose an economy to follow its history.

Rural estimate Urban estimate! Data to review
Economies compared210Both estimates are available
Below 99.5% access82At least one estimate is below the cutoff
Typical access gap24.7 pointsMedian among economies below the cutoff
Large gaps46Urban access is at least 20 points higher
Step 1 · Compare economies

Rank the differences

Hiding economies where both estimates are at least 99.5%

Each row connects the rural estimate (square) to the urban estimate (circle). Select a row to update the history chart below.

Step 2 · See the overall pattern

Rural access versus the access gap

82 economies in this view

Move right for higher rural access and move up for a larger urban advantage. Select any dot to explore that economy.

Rural electricity access plotted against the urban-rural access gapAfghanistan — select recordAngola — select recordArgentina — select recordBenin — select recordBolivia — select recordBotswana — select recordBrazil — select recordBurkina Faso — select recordBurundi — select recordCabo Verde — select recordCambodia — select recordCameroon — select recordCentral African Republic — select recordChile — select recordColombia — select recordComoros — select recordCongo, Dem. Rep. — select recordCongo, Rep. — select recordCosta Rica — select recordCote d'Ivoire — select recordDjibouti — select recordDominican Republic — select recordEcuador — select recordEl Salvador — select recordEquatorial Guinea — select recordEritrea — select recordEswatini — select recordEthiopia — select recordFiji — select recordGabon — select recordGambia, The — select recordGhana — select recordGuatemala — select recordGuinea — select recordGuinea-Bissau — select recordGuyana — select recordHaiti — select recordHonduras — select recordJamaica — select recordKenya — select recordLao PDR — select recordLesotho — select recordLiberia — select recordMadagascar — select recordMalawi — select recordMali — select recordMarshall Islands — select recordMexico — select recordMicronesia, Fed. Sts. — select recordMongolia — select recordMozambique — select recordMyanmar — select recordNamibia — select recordNepal — select recordNicaragua — select recordNiger — select recordNigeria — select recordPakistan — select recordPanama — select recordPapua New Guinea — select recordPeru — select recordPhilippines — select recordRwanda — select recordSao Tome and Principe — select recordSenegal — select recordSierra Leone — select recordSolomon Islands — select recordSomalia, Fed. Rep. — select recordSouth Africa — select recordSouth Sudan — select recordSudan — select recordSuriname — select recordSyrian Arab Republic — select recordTanzania — select recordTimor-Leste — select recordTogo — select recordUganda — select recordUruguay — select recordVanuatu — select recordYemen, Rep. — select recordZambia — select recordZimbabwe — select record
Each dot counts one economy equally, regardless of population. Records where rural access is reported more than two points above urban access are set aside for review.
Step 3 · Follow one economy over time

Cambodia

KHM · East Asia & Pacific

The two lines show how the rural and urban estimates changed from 2000 to 2024. The vertical marker follows the year selected at the top.

2024 rural98.6%
2024 urban100%
2024 urban–rural gap1.4 points
Cambodia electricity access history2000 urban: 60.6%2000 rural: 6.6%2001 urban: 65.3%2002 urban: 67.2%2002 rural: 0.6%2003 urban: 69.2%2003 rural: 7.6%2004 urban: 71.1%2004 rural: 0.8%2005 urban: 66.8%2005 rural: 9.5%2006 urban: 75.1%2006 rural: 16.1%2007 urban: 77.1%2007 rural: 6.5%2008 urban: 87%2008 rural: 11.7%2009 urban: 81.2%2009 rural: 11.8%2010 urban: 91.3%2010 rural: 15.8%2011 urban: 93.5%2011 rural: 22.8%2012 urban: 94.2%2012 rural: 28.5%2013 urban: 94.8%2013 rural: 38.9%2014 urban: 96.9%2014 rural: 44.7%2015 urban: 95.8%2015 rural: 53.3%2016 urban: 96.3%2016 rural: 60.7%2017 urban: 99.1%2017 rural: 86.1%2018 urban: 99.4%2018 rural: 75%2019 urban: 96.9%2019 rural: 80%2020 urban: 97.3%2020 rural: 82.9%2021 urban: 98.9%2021 rural: 77.1%2022 urban: 99%2022 rural: 88%2023 urban: 99.5%2023 rural: 93.4%2024 urban: 100%2024 rural: 98.6%
Squares show rural estimates and circles show urban estimates. A broken line means the source has no value for that year.

First rural record6.6% in 2000

Latest recorded pair98.6% / 100% in 2024

Missing rural years1 of 25

This page uses a fixed copy of World Bank electricity-access data saved on September 8, 2026. The annual percentages may combine reported, modeled, and revised values. The project compares patterns but cannot explain what caused them.

Why this exists

The question.

A single national electricity-access rate can hide major differences between rural and urban communities. Comparing both estimates side by side makes those differences—and questionable records—easier to see.

How to begin.

Start with the 2024 ranking, then select an economy to see its history.

Method and limits

How the project was built.

I captured the World Bank series for rural and urban electricity access for 217 countries and territories from 2000 through 2024, then matched each one to the World Bank's region data. The interface rounds displayed values to one decimal place and leaves missing years blank instead of estimating them. Yearly summaries include only records that have both rural and urban values. If rural access is reported as more than two percentage points higher than urban access, the record is flagged for review rather than presented as a real advantage. Each country or territory counts equally in the median, regardless of population.

What this demonstrates

  • Data analysis
  • Statistical reasoning
  • Visualization
  • Information design
  • Interaction design
  • Editorial storytelling
  • Accessibility
  • Performance

Takeaways

  1. In the 2024 data, 82 economies had both estimates available and at least one below 99.5%. Among them, the typical urban–rural difference was 24.7 percentage points, and 46 had a difference of at least 20 points.
  2. Cambodia’s series moves from 6.6% rural and 60.6% urban access in 2000 to 98.6% and 100% in 2024, but the interface does not attribute that convergence to any policy or program.
  3. One 2024 record reports rural access more than two points above urban access. The project flags that unusual result—and leaves missing years blank—instead of silently changing the source.

Sources

World Bank — World Development Indicators · Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)Access to electricity, rural (% of rural population) ↗World Bank — World Development Indicators · Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)Access to electricity, urban (% of urban population) ↗