World Bank Group · Firms Identifying Electricity as a Major Constraint
Electricity as an obstacle for firms by country
What share of firms say electricity is a major obstacle to their business?
Of the 172 countries compared in the 2026 edition, 3 countries shared the lowest reading, 0.000%, and Comoros had the highest reading, 84.769%. In the middle country the figure was 25.356%. 9 readings from before 2016 are listed but not compared.
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Part ofEnergy
Electricity as an obstacle for firms · the 2026 edition
Context statistic
3 countries share the lowest value, 0.000% — no single country is named first.
01the 2026 edition · position · derived
Who leads
The three countries at the lowest end of 172 compared, the three at the other end, and the first on each continent.
Lowest in the 2026 edition · shared
3 countries share the lowest reading, 0.000%
No single country is named first: picking one from a shared value would be a choice the data does not make.
02Every measured country
Electricity as an obstacle for firms on a map
Each country is shaded by its value, in five groups holding the same number of countries. Hover a country for its value, or select it to open its profile. Below the map, each continent’s middle country.
Darker is a lower value — the better end.
- 42.162–84.769%
- 30.973–41.769%
- 20.073–30.754%
- 9.861–20.056%
- 0.000–8.593%
- Hatched: a reading from before 2016, listed but not compared (9)
- No reading in the 2026 edition
- Asia
17.824%
the middle country, of 45 measured · 52 members
3 share 0.000%
Iraq67.213%Lowest and highest reading in Asia.
- Europe
22.275%
the middle country, of 40 measured · 49 members
Lithuania1.505%
Greece61.989%Lowest and highest reading in Europe.
- Oceania
25.501%
the middle country, of 9 measured · 21 members
Tonga6.707%
Kiribati41.769%Lowest and highest reading in Oceania.
- Americas
34.000%
the middle country, of 28 measured · 48 members
Belize2.703%
Uruguay74.679%Lowest and highest reading in Americas.
- Africa
34.767%
the middle country, of 50 measured · 55 members
Guinea5.892%
Comoros84.769%Lowest and highest reading in Africa.
- Every region
22 sub-regions, lowest middle country first
- Northern Europe
9.176%
the middle country, of 10 measured · 13 members
Lithuania1.505%
Iceland26.839%Lowest and highest reading in Northern Europe.
- South-eastern Asia
11.361%
the middle country, of 11 measured · 11 members
Singapore4.236%
Timor-Leste35.100%Lowest and highest reading in South-eastern Asia.
- Western Europe
11.463%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 9 members
Germany2.219%
Belgium37.314%Lowest and highest reading in Western Europe.
- Eastern Asia
12.732%
the middle country, of 6 measured · 8 members
China0.672%
Taiwan18.942%Lowest and highest reading in Eastern Asia.
- Southern Asia
15.697%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 9 members
Bhutan0.649%
Afghanistan42.854%Lowest and highest reading in Southern Asia.
- Caribbean
17.622%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 24 members
Saint Lucia8.241%
Dominican Republic61.405%Lowest and highest reading in Caribbean.
- Western Asia
22.892%
the middle country, of 15 measured · 19 members
3 share 0.000%
Iraq67.213%Lowest and highest reading in Western Asia.
- Southern Africa
23.758%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 5 members
Eswatini10.511%
Namibia31.451%Lowest and highest reading in Southern Africa.
- Southern Europe
25.766%
the middle country, of 13 measured · 17 members
Bosnia and Herzegovina3.787%Greece61.989%Lowest and highest reading in Southern Europe.
- Eastern Africa
27.170%
the middle country, of 17 measured · 19 members
Rwanda16.284%Comoros84.769%Lowest and highest reading in Eastern Africa.
- Central Asia
28.801%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 5 members
Uzbekistan3.433%
Kyrgyzstan42.551%Lowest and highest reading in Central Asia.
- Eastern Europe
29.296%
the middle country, of 10 measured · 10 members
Hungary4.494%
Slovakia60.569%Lowest and highest reading in Eastern Europe.
- Central America
30.561%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 8 members
Belize2.703%
Panama61.680%Lowest and highest reading in Central America.
- South America
36.905%
the middle country, of 10 measured · 12 members
Suriname12.127%Uruguay74.679%Lowest and highest reading in South America.
- Western Africa
40.373%
the middle country, of 16 measured · 16 members
Guinea5.892%
Liberia78.142%Lowest and highest reading in Western Africa.
- Middle Africa
48.447%
the middle country, of 9 measured · 9 members
Gabon32.150%
Chad65.794%Lowest and highest reading in Middle Africa.
- Australia and New Zealand
2 of 2 measured — too few for a middle: Australia, New Zealand.
Australia19.722%
New Zealand24.754%Lowest and highest reading in Australia and New Zealand.
- Melanesia
4 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu.
Fiji12.266%
Papua New Guinea40.646%Lowest and highest reading in Melanesia.
- Micronesia
1 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Kiribati.
Kiribati41.769%Lowest and highest reading in Micronesia.
- Northern Africa
3 of 6 measured — too few for a middle: Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia.
Morocco21.718%
Tunisia51.649%Lowest and highest reading in Northern Africa.
- Northern America
2 of 4 measured — too few for a middle: Canada, United States.
United States7.716%
Canada9.861%Lowest and highest reading in Northern America.
- Polynesia
2 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Samoa, Tonga.
Tonga6.707%
Samoa25.501%Lowest and highest reading in Polynesia.
03The whole field at once
The spread
172 countries, one dot each, on one scale — further right is a higher value. Half the countries are above 25.356%; a quarter are above 37.188%, and a quarter below 11.984%. The bar in each row marks that continent’s middle country.
04All 181 ever measured
Every country
In order, highest value first — position 1 is the highest value, the way World Bank Group’s own tables read. “=” marks a position shared with another country. World Bank Group ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. A firm can complain about electricity because the power keeps failing or because it costs too much, and the survey does not say which — so a high share in a rich country and a high share in a poor one can mean different things. Readings come from different survey years; check the year beside each one.
Showing 25 of 181 countries
Values for the 2026 edition.
05In this edition
Electricity as an obstacle for firms in records
The extremes of the statistic. A record reached by more than one country names none of them.
Highest reading
84.769%
Firms rating electricity a major or very severe constraint (%)
Lowest reading
Reached 3 times by 3 countries — shared, so no holder is named
0.000%
Firms rating electricity a major or very severe constraint (%)
06The measure
About electricity as an obstacle for firms
This is the share of private firms that call electricity a major or very severe obstacle to running their business, from the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys. It is the verdict of the people who pay for power cuts and power bills, and it complements measures of who is connected.
What the number is: Firms rating electricity a major or very severe constraint (%).
What it does not measure
It records what managers say, not how often the power actually failed, and it does not say whether the complaint is about outages or about price. Farms and informal businesses are outside the survey.
07Where it fits
Connections
Its part in the Country Index, the statistics whose values line up most closely with it across countries, and others on the same subject.
In the Country Index
Context, with no vote
This statistic is published in full under Energy, but does not help decide any Country Index standing.
Moves with
Where electricity as an obstacle for firms is higher, these tend to be higher too.
- Adolescent Birth Rate (Ages 15–19)UN DESA Population Division · 172 countries in commonρ 0.44
- Child MarriageUNICEF · 115 countries in commonρ 0.43
- Firms Competing Against Informal FirmsWorld Bank Group · 172 countries in commonρ 0.42
Moves against
Where electricity as an obstacle for firms is higher, these tend to be lower.
- World Risk Poll Resilience IndexLloyd's Register Foundation · 135 countries in commonρ −0.49
- Economic Complexity IndexKeyGrowth Lab at Harvard University · 136 countries in commonρ −0.45
- Upper Secondary AttainmentUIS · 88 countries in commonρ −0.42
Rank correlation (ρ, from −1 to 1) across countries, on each statistic’s newest edition, out of 377 statistics sharing at least 80 countries with this one. Two statistics that move together do not cause each other.
08Keep reading
Explore further
The subject
The data, edition by edition
More from World Bank Group
09Questions
Electricity as an obstacle for firms: questions and answers
Which country has the lowest electricity as an obstacle for firms?
3 countries share the lowest reading, 0.000%, among the 172 compared in the 2026 edition, so no single country is named.
Which country has the highest electricity as an obstacle for firms?
Comoros, at 84.769%, among the 172 countries compared in the 2026 edition.
How many countries does the Firms Identifying Electricity as a Major Constraint cover?
172 in the 2026 edition, and 181 at least once across all editions.
What is the world average electricity as an obstacle for firms?
This site does not calculate a world average, which would depend on how countries are weighted. In the middle country of the 172 compared in the 2026 edition, the figure was 25.356%.
Is this World Bank Group’s own ranking?
No. World Bank Group publishes the values but ranks nobody; the position on this page is derived by Nations Inquiry by ordering the published values, and equal values share a position.
How often is the Firms Identifying Electricity as a Major Constraint published?
This site holds one edition, describing 2026.
Where does the data come from, and can I download it?
From World Bank Group, under CC BY 4.0. World Bank Enterprise Surveys on Data360, read from the full-precision bulk file, one reading per country from its most recent survey. Every edition is on this site’s Datasets pages as a full table, and downloads as a CSV file with every value unrounded.
10Method
Sources, method and citation
Source
Firms Identifying Electricity as a Major Constraint — World Bank Group
World Bank Enterprise Surveys on Data360, read from the full-precision bulk file, one reading per country from its most recent survey.
Newest edition
Report year 2026Data year not recorded
Cite the source as: World Bank. Enterprise Surveys. Washington, DC: World Bank Group.
Licence: CC BY 4.0, checked 2026-09-29.
How this page reads the numbers
- World Bank Group ranks nobody on this measure. The position is derived by Nations Inquiry by ordering the published values; equal values share a position.
- Which end is better follows the publisher’s own reading of the measure.
- A country is named at an end only when it holds that value alone. Where several share it, the page says how many and names none first.
- The file gives each country’s most recent reading, so the rows are from different years. Readings from before 2016 are listed but left out of every comparison on this page.
- Values are stored exactly as published and trimmed only for display. “The middle country” is the median of the countries measured, not a world average.
The file itself, column by column — where it came from, what each column holds, and every edition as a CSV — is on its dataset page.
Cite this page
Nations Inquiry (2026). Electricity as an obstacle for firms by country: Firms Identifying Electricity as a Major Constraint, data from World Bank Group. https://nationsinquiry.com/statistics/firms-electricity-constraint