Business & Markets · Electricity access · The Gambia
The Gambia’s electricity access rose to 69% of population in 2024.
69% of population
2024
Up 2.1 pp from 2023.
Updated 8 Oct 2026
In plain words
69% of population
What it is. Electricity access is the share of a country's people who live in a household with a working electricity supply. It is usually estimated from household surveys and utility connection records, and it counts a household once it can obtain power, whether from the grid or from a small off-grid source. The measure leaves out how many hours of supply people get, how reliable it is and what it costs.
Higher is better. A higher share means more people can light their homes, charge phones, keep food cold and run a business after dark, so a rising figure is good news. The latest figure is 69% of population for 2024, up from 66.9% of population a year earlier, a gain of 2.1 percentage points. It is also the highest reading since 2015, when it stood at 54.7% of population. Access has therefore climbed through most of the period and reached its best level in the latest year.
Why it matters. At 69% of population, most Gambian households can now get electricity, while a sizeable minority still depend on candles, torches or fuel lamps for light. Households connected to supply can study, cook and store food with more ease. Shops, workshops and small processors can extend their working hours. For the state, each further point of access means extending lines and generation to the remaining communities, and the next annual reading will show whether the 2024 pace holds.
| Period | Electricity access · The Gambia |
|---|---|
| 2015 | 54.7% of population |
| 2016 | 56.4% of population |
| 2017 | 56.2% of population |
| 2018 | 60.3% of population |
| 2019 | 62.1% of population |
| 2020 | 62.2% of population |
| 2021 | 63.7% of population |
| 2022 | 65.4% of population |
| 2023 | 66.9% of population |
| 2024 | 69% of population |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0) · Licence: CC BY 4.0
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Strata-AF™ Data, Electricity access, The Gambia, 2024; source World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0), retrieved 8 Oct 2026; https://data.strata-af.com/business/electricity-access/gambia
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Methodology
Population with access to electricity. Unit: % of population.
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (series EG.ELC.ACCS.ZS), retrieved through the World Bank API and published under CC BY 4.0. Updated annually; the World Bank's own source notes apply.