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

Electricity changes the shape of a human day, stretching waking hours past the setting of the sun and powering the quiet infrastructure of modern survival. Every percentage point represents millions of households transitioning from darkness to the glow of a single bulb, altering how families cook, study, and remember their lives. At MYRIAD, we examine the statistics of human lives through the metric of power in the home, seeing the domestic space not as a static setting, but as a boundary of possibility.

The long arc of this electrification unfolds across generations with agonizing slowness. In the 1800s estimate 0, the light remained almost entirely absent, creeping through the 1810s estimate 0.01, 1820s estimate 0.02, and 1830s estimate 0.03. Growth persisted through the 1840s estimate 0.04, 1850s estimate 0.05, 1860s estimate 0.06, 1870s estimate 0.07, 1880s estimate 0.08, 1890s estimate 0.09, and 1900s estimate 0.1. After decades of minimal shifts, the trajectory accelerated through the 1950s 3, 1960s 6, 1990s 17.5, and 2000s 23.

Today, electricity at home in Sudan stands at 48 % — ranking #152 of 157 countries. For an individual born here, the tools available for learning and labor are defined by this gradual ascent. While the 2030s projection 52 and 2100s projection 80 suggest a brightening future, the current gap highlights a stark contrast in global living standards. In 1900 it was 0.1 %, leaving a legacy of darkness that continues to recede one household at a time.

Discover where your own life fits within the global data stream on MYRIAD.