655 mln people worldwide still live without electricity: UN report

UNITED NATIONS, June 25– There are still 655 million people, or 8 percent of the global population, living without electricity, with the majority in Sub-Saharan Africa, a UN report released on Wednesday showed.

In addition, 1.8 billion people currently use polluting fuels and technologies for cooking, which has put their health and well-being at risk, according to the latest edition of Tracking Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7: The Energy Progress Report.

Sub-Saharan Africa bears a disproportionate share of these gaps, with over 560 million people living without electricity and 970 million lacking access to clean cooking. The report said the pace of electrification must triple in this region to achieve universal access by 2030.