Electricity Consumption per Person by Country 2025

What this chart shows. The 20 countries that used the most electricity per person in 2025, in megawatt-hours (MWh), among the 91 countries with a 2025 figure in Ember's data. Norway led with 24.50 MWh per person, followed by Qatar at 18.03 and Kuwait at 17.75. The world average was 3.86 MWh, up from 3.79 in 2024.

How the data is collected. Ember measures electricity demand as a country's generation plus its net imports, and divides it by population. It includes all users, homes, businesses and industry, so countries with power-hungry industries such as aluminium smelting rank high.

Background. High use per person usually comes with cheap power or harsh climates: Norway heats with hydroelectricity, and the Gulf states Qatar and Kuwait run air conditioning for much of the year. The United States used 13.06 MWh per person, and China, at 7.46 MWh, now uses more than France, at 7.15 MWh.

Limits. Some of the highest users have no 2025 figure in the release: in 2024 Iceland used 48.42 MWh per person and Bahrain 23.92 MWh, both above Norway. Unlike the other charts in this set, small countries are included, which is why Luxembourg appears.