# Africa's electricity access gap persists amid investment shortfall — retained record

> Retained news record from news:semafor.

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source: [news](https://highsignal.app/data/news) (news:semafor)  published 2026-08-24 14:37 ingested 2026-08-25 06:57

[original source ↗](https://www.semafor.com/article/08/24/2026/africas-electricity-access-gap-persists-amid-investment-shortfall)

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Africa continues to face the world’s largest electricity access gap with a shortfall in investment “the central constraint,” the latest Africa Sustainable Development Report said. Access to electricity increased from approximately 46% in 2015 to about 53% in 2023, yet nearly 600 million people remain without power.
Urban electrification rates exceed 80%, the report found, while rural access remains below 40% in many countries. Annual investment in energy access on the continent is estimated at $4 billion, according to the report, which was jointly prepared by the African Development Bank, African Union Commission, UNDP, and Economic Commission for Africa. “Without a rapid scale-up of financing and regional energy integration, energy poverty risks becoming further entrenched,” wrote the authors.
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document fetched 2026-08-25 08:15 · canonical https://semafor.com/article/08/24/2026/africas-electricity-access-gap-persists-amid-investment-shortfall