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

At MYRIAD, we look at the statistics of human lives to understand the material conditions that shape everyday existence. For the people of DR Congo, the presence of electricity at home tells a story of gradual transformation across generations, marking the shift from absolute darkness at night to the slow, flickering spread of artificial light in domestic spaces. This metric touches everything from cooking and studying to preserving food and connecting with the wider world, framing the boundaries of what is possible within a household over the centuries.

The historical arc of this domestic electrification spans three centuries of measured change. In the 1800s estimate, access stood at 0 percent, a baseline that crept upward by fractions 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 0.1 percent, and in 1900 it was 0.1 percent. Growth continued through the 1910s estimate, 1920s estimate, 1930s estimate, and 1940s estimate, rising into the single digits by the 1950s at 3 percent, the 1960s at 6 percent, the 1970s at 9 percent, and the 1980s at 12 percent. By the 1990s it reached 17.5 percent, climbing through the 2000s at 23 percent and the 2010s at 35.5 percent.

Today, in the 2020s, electricity at home in DR Congo stands at 48 percent — ranking #129 of 157 countries. Projections look toward the future through the 2030s projection at 52 percent, the 2040s projection at 56 percent, the 2050s projection at 60 percent, the 2060s projection at 64 percent, the 2070s projection at 68 percent, the 2080s projection at 72 percent, the 2090s projection at 76 percent, and the 2100s projection at 80 percent. If you were born here across these different eras, your daily reality of light and power shifted profoundly alongside these numbers.

Where do YOU rank among everyone ever born? →