ECA region — Review, analysis and options to move forward to established benchmark for selected countries

The ECA Region is composed of the 53 countries of different sizes, demographic characteristics and socio-economic development levels. Patterns of energy production and consumption are also very diverse on the African continent. Africa is known to be lagging behind other major world’s regions in terms of level of industrialization, modern energy consumption and electrification rates. Africa has the lowest electrification rate in the world and it is anticipated that half of the population living in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) will still be without access to electricity by 2030 if strong policy measures are not taken to reverse the current situation. Yet, the region is endowed with fairly significant energy and other natural resources. In spite of low level of development of its energy resources, the ECA region is a net energy exporter, as it produces more energy than it consumes, particularly in case of oil and natural gas.

Related Subject(s): Natural Resources Water and Energy