Global electricity consumption by country 2019

China consumes the most electricity of any country in the world. The United States ranks as the second-largest electricity consumer, at 4,194 terawatt hours in 2019 and was followed by India at a significant margin. Most energy generated in China is sourced from coal.

Large population, high consumption?

The first three entries in this list constitute the countries with the largest population. China is the most populous country the world and consumes the most electricity. India on the other hand, follows China much more closely in terms of population than in electricity consumption; whereas the United States consumes far more electricity than India but has a much smaller population size. The United States' per capita electricity consumption is therefore much higher than that of India.

Countries with a high GDP per capita as the United States provide their average residents greater purchasing power. Countries with higher-income residents tend to be more urbanized, leading to higher electricity consumption. The residential sector is the largest electricity consuming sector in the United States.