The World Bank and the African Development Bank have announced that Mission 300 has provided electricity access to more than 50 million people across 40 African countries since July 2023. The initiative aims to connect 300 million people to electricity by 2030 and is a major part of efforts to close Africa’s energy access gap.
The program has accelerated its pace of electricity connections, expanding access nearly twice as fast as when it began. Investments have covered the full electricity value chain, including power generation, transmission, distribution, and final connections for households, businesses, and public services.
Tanzania recorded 7.5 million new electricity connections under the initiative, while Ethiopia added 4.6 million new users with support from reforms aimed at reducing connection costs. In Nigeria, private-sector-led efforts helped connect more than 4.5 million people to electricity.
The World Bank and AfDB said 30 countries have launched National Energy Compacts to strengthen energy systems, expand affordable power generation, scale up renewable energy solutions, support regional integration, and increase private-sector participation. These country-led plans are expected to guide further investment and policy reforms across the energy sector.
To sustain progress, the World Bank and AfDB have committed nearly $15 billion and mobilized about $4.5 billion in co-financing for Mission 300. Other partners have also pledged more than $7 billion in additional support for Africa’s energy sector.
Despite these gains, Sub-Saharan Africa continues to face a major electricity access challenge. The International Energy Agency estimated that 565 million people in the region lacked electricity in 2023, representing 85% of the global population without access to power.
Population growth continues to reduce the impact of electrification progress. Although 35 million people in the region gained electricity access in 2023, population growth added nearly 30 million people, limiting the net reduction in those without electricity to about 5 million.
For Mission 300, the main challenge is to expand electricity access fast enough to outpace demographic growth. Continued investment, policy reform, private-sector participation, and renewable energy deployment will be critical to achieving a sustained decline in the number of Africans living without electricity.
