Electricity at Home in China: 1800 to Today (and Tomorrow)

What does the glow of a single bulb mean across the span of generations? For MYRIAD, numbers are the footprints of human lives, and the share of the population with access to electricity in China tells a profound story of change at home. In the 1800s estimate, the recorded value stood at 0, rising slowly through the 1810s estimate, 1820s estimate, 1830s estimate, 1840s estimate, 1850s estimate, 1860s estimate, 1870s estimate, 1880s estimate, and 1890s estimate. By the 1900s estimate, it reached 0.51 %. These decimals trace the quiet darkness of domestic life before the modern grid remade the rhythm of the day.

The historical arc accelerates dramatically as the twentieth and twenty-first centuries unfold. Progress moves through the 1910s estimate, 1920s estimate, 1930s estimate, and 1940s estimate, climbing upward through the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. The pace quickens further in the 1990s and 2000s, before arriving in the 2010s. In the 2020s, electricity at home in China stands at 100 % — ranking #13 of 157 countries. Looking forward, the 2030s projection, 2040s projection, 2050s projection, 2060s projection, 2070s projection, 2080s projection, 2090s projection, and 2100s projection all hold steady at 100.

If you were born during the 1900s estimate, your home shared in a mere 0.51 % availability of power, a stark contrast to the universal access defining the 2020s. This transformation remade domestic labor, study hours, and safety across the country. Every decade listed represents real people navigating the shifting boundaries of light and darkness in their daily environments. Where do YOU rank among everyone ever born? →