The socio economic drivers of rural electrification in Sub-Saharan Africa

Oona Nanka-Bruce ()
Additional contact information
Oona Nanka-Bruce: Power Networks and Energy Strategic Consulting, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Godalming, Surrey, GU7 2AZ, UK

No 128, Surrey Energy Economics Centre (SEEC), School of Economics Discussion Papers (SEEDS) from Surrey Energy Economics Centre (SEEC), School of Economics, University of Surrey

Abstract: A significant proportion of the population in sub-Saharan Africa live in the rural areas, with the majority living on less than US$1 per day. Access to electricity is considered an essential element in the sustainable development of rural areas and an enabler for countries to achieve their Millennium Development Goals. This paper contributes the first analytical study of the socio-economic factors which have a significant impact on rural electrification (RE) development in sub-Saharan Africa. The study employs cross-sectional data for 24 of the 47 countries in the sub-Saharan region and finds factors including the Human Development Index, wealth distribution, institutional development and urban population size of a country to have a significant impact on RE development. A detailed policy survey of four countries from the sample; two countries categorised as over-performing (Nigeria and Madagascar) and two as under-performing (Tanzania and Chad), highlights that collaboration with international partners, integration of national policies and strategies and the use of renewable energy sources enhances the development of rural electrification in sub-Saharan Africa.

Keywords: rural electrification; socio-economic factors; developing countries; Sub-Sahara Africa; sustainable development; MDGs; econometric modelling; policy survey (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 40 pages
Date: 2010-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr and nep-ene
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Published in Journal of Energy and Development, XXXIII(2), 2008, pp. 215-248. (Revised Version)

Downloads: (external link)
https://repec.som.surrey.ac.uk/seeds/SEEDS128.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sur:seedps:128

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Surrey Energy Economics Centre (SEEC), School of Economics Discussion Papers (SEEDS) from Surrey Energy Economics Centre (SEEC), School of Economics, University of Surrey Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Mona Chitnis ().