From June 2025 through May 2026, Bangladesh’s electricity consumption depended overwhelmingly on fossil fuels, which supplied about 81% of the total. Gas accounted for roughly 42% and coal for almost a third, with other fossil sources making up the remainder. Net imports provided another 16%; their source mix is not specified, so they cannot be classified here as either fossil or low-carbon electricity. Domestic low-carbon generation supplied only about 2.4%, comprising roughly 1.3% solar and 1% hydropower. This leaves considerable scope to expand clean electricity and reduce reliance on fossil fuels, whose use contributes to climate change and air pollution.

Is Electricity Growing in Bangladesh?

The latest 2026 figures show that electricity consumption per person has not regained its historic peak. At 600 kWh per person, it was 49 kWh—or about 8%—below the record of 649 kWh set in 2022. This shortfall is concerning as Bangladesh needs more electricity to support development and growing demand from electrification. Low-carbon generation offers a modest encouraging sign: it reached a new record of 14 kWh per person, up from 13 kWh in 2025. That improvement deserves recognition, but its small scale underscores the need for much faster clean electricity growth.

Suggestions

Bangladesh can accelerate low-carbon electricity generation by expanding solar and developing nuclear power, supported by stronger grids and investment in electricity infrastructure. Nearby Pakistan provides a particularly relevant example: solar supplies about 24% of its electricity and nuclear another 13%. Sri Lanka’s roughly 15% solar share also demonstrates the potential for substantial solar generation in the region. Bangladesh could pursue rooftop and utility-scale solar while advancing nuclear generation as a dependable source of large-scale clean electricity. For longer-term nuclear ambition, France generates about two-thirds of its electricity from nuclear, while South Korea generates a quarter. Wind should also be assessed where local conditions are suitable: Denmark and the US state of Iowa each generate about 57% of their electricity from wind, illustrating what sustained development of suitable resources can achieve.

History

Historically, Bangladesh’s low-carbon electricity growth was dominated by fluctuating hydropower output rather than sustained expansion. In the 1980s, several annual gains of about 0.2 TWh were offset by declines of the same size. The 1990s brought another small gain, a sharper 0.5 TWh fall in 1995, and a 0.4 TWh recovery in 1996. During the 2000s, modest increases were interrupted by declines, notably a 0.6 TWh drop in 2009. Hydropower remained uneven in the 2010s, with gains in 2010 and 2016 and losses in 2014 and 2019. More recently, solar has provided a welcome new growth pathway, adding about 0.3 TWh in each of 2022, 2024 and 2025, alongside a 0.2 TWh hydropower increase in 2024. Building on those solar gains and adding nuclear generation would help turn intermittent progress into sustained clean electricity expansion.

Electricity Imports and Exports

Balance of Trade

* 12M = Last 12 months (Jun 2025 – May 2026) — a rolling 12-month period, not a calendar year.