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

Electricity at home shapes the contours of everyday existence, defining how families study, cook, work, and experience the hours after sunset. In the 2020s, electricity at home in Uganda stands at 48 % — ranking #155 of 157 countries. This metric traces the literal illumination of households across the nation, recording the gradual shift from darkness to light in domestic spaces. Every percentage point represents millions of individuals navigating their evenings, marking a fundamental transformation in how daily life is sustained.

The historical arc of this transformation spans three centuries of slow accumulation and accelerating change. In the 1800s estimate 0 percentage of homes had power, a baseline that crept upward through the 1810s estimate 0.01, the 1820s estimate 0.02, the 1830s estimate 0.03, the 1840s estimate 0.04, the 1850s estimate 0.05, the 1860s estimate 0.06, the 1870s estimate 0.07, the 1880s estimate 0.08, and the 1890s estimate 0.09. By 1900 it was 0.1 %, moving through the 1900s estimate 0.1, the 1910s estimate 0.68, the 1920s estimate 1.26, the 1930s estimate 1.84, the 1940s estimate 2.42, the 1950s 3, the 1960s 6, the 1970s 9, the 1980s 12, the 1990s 17.5, the 2000s 23, and the 2010s 35.5, with projections anticipating the 2030s projection 52, the 2040s projection 56, the 2050s projection 60, the 2060s projection 64, the 2070s projection 68, the 2080s projection 72, the 2090s projection 76, and the 2100s projection 80.

For someone born in Uganda across these changing eras, the probability of flipping a switch to illuminate a room alters dramatically. An ancestor born two centuries ago lived entirely by alternative forms of illumination, while a contemporary resident experiences a domestic landscape where nearly half of households share electrical access. Looking forward, future generations will see this infrastructure expand further into daily routines. Where do YOU rank among everyone ever born? →