14% of global electricity is generated from Hydropower in 2025/2026

Last 12 months Oct 2025 – Sep 2026

Share of global electricity

13.94 % -0.10%

Total Generation

4,421 TWh +66.7 TWh

Carbon Intensity

24 gCO2eq/kWh

Total Generation (TWh)

People's Republic of China 1,501 TWh
Brazil 391 TWh
Canada 356 TWh
United States 278 TWh
Russia 208 TWh

Share (%)

Central African Republic 100.0%
Paraguay 99.5%
Ethiopia 96.5%
Nepal 94.6%
Malawi 92.3%

Per person (kWh)

Norway 23,910 kWh
Canada 8,898 kWh
Paraguay 6,429 kWh
Sweden 6,075 kWh
Laos 5,219 kWh

From October 2025 through September 2026, hydropower generated about 4,400 TWh globally, equivalent to almost 14% of global electricity consumption. That is around 270 TWh more than in 2016, an increase of roughly 7% over a decade. Yet its global electricity share fell from 16.6% to 13.9%, a decline of about 2.6 percentage points, showing that hydro generation grew more slowly than electricity consumption overall. The additional clean electricity is welcome, but this modest growth underscores the importance of accelerating low-carbon electricity generation to meet expanding demand from electrification and AI.

People's Republic of China stands out for both scale and growth: its roughly 1,500 TWh represents about a third of global hydro generation, and its addition of over 210 TWh in five years is by far the largest absolute increase. Brazil and Canada each generate more than 350 TWh, with hydro supplying just over half their electricity. Turkey recorded the second-largest five-year addition, about 37 TWh, while Laos added nearly 18 TWh against current output of 40 TWh. Leadership by electricity share looks different: Central African Republic and Paraguay obtain virtually all their electricity from hydro, while Ethiopia and Nepal exceed 94%. Norway leads per person with nearly 24,000 kWh, far above Canada's roughly 8,900 kWh and Paraguay's 6,400 kWh. Among US states, Washington generates about 76 TWh and gets roughly two-thirds of its electricity from hydro; Oregon obtains almost half, while California produces a substantial 26 TWh despite hydro accounting for less than one-tenth of its electricity.

Hydropower's climate advantage is substantial: its IPCC lifecycle carbon intensity is about 24 gCO2eq/kWh, compared with 820 gCO2eq/kWh for coal, 490 gCO2eq/kWh for gas and 650 gCO2eq/kWh for oil. That makes hydro's lifecycle emissions roughly 95–97% lower than those fossil-fuel sources. Alongside wind, nuclear and solar, hydro provides low-carbon electricity that can help reduce climate-changing emissions and reliance on fossil-fuel combustion, with associated air-quality benefits. Its existing global output of around 4,400 TWh demonstrates the scale at which clean electricity already operates; expanding low-carbon generation, especially solar and nuclear alongside hydro and wind, can extend those benefits as electricity demand grows.

Exclude regions with population under 1 million

US States:

#	Country/Region	Total Generation ▼	Share	Per person
1	People's Republic of China	1,501 TWh	13.9%	1054.3 kWh
2	Brazil	391 TWh	50.9%	1834.4 kWh
3	Canada	356 TWh	55.6%	8897.7 kWh
4	United States	278 TWh	5.9%	803.2 kWh
5	Russia	208 TWh	18.1%	1434.7 kWh
6	India	164 TWh	7.9%	112.4 kWh
7	Norway	134 TWh	88.1%	23910.4 kWh
8	Vietnam	96.0 TWh	27.5%	940.6 kWh
9	Turkey	92.2 TWh	27.1%	1042.5 kWh
10	Japan	74.2 TWh	7.9%	602.4 kWh
11	Venezuela	65.0 TWh	78.3%	2296.0 kWh
12	Sweden	64.9 TWh	39.5%	6074.6 kWh
13	Colombia	63.5 TWh	68.7%	1186.9 kWh
14	France	58.7 TWh	10.5%	879.2 kWh
15	Paraguay	44.0 TWh	99.5%	6428.9 kWh
16	Laos	40.0 TWh	76.5%	5218.6 kWh
17	Spain	36.2 TWh	12.5%	750.7 kWh
18	Switzerland	36.1 TWh	52.9%	4009.9 kWh
19	Italy	35.6 TWh	10.9%	602.0 kWh
20	Pakistan	34.4 TWh	18.8%	136.4 kWh
21	Malaysia	32.8 TWh	17.0%	911.6 kWh
22	Peru	32.1 TWh	50.4%	928.8 kWh
23	Mexico	30.8 TWh	8.3%	234.1 kWh
24	Argentina	30.5 TWh	20.6%	665.9 kWh
25	Austria	30.1 TWh	39.2%	3251.4 kWh
26	Ecuador	29.0 TWh	70.2%	1585.3 kWh
27	New Zealand	25.9 TWh	60.3%	4909.1 kWh
28	Indonesia	24.6 TWh	7.0%	87.4 kWh
29	Tajikistan	21.9 TWh	92.3%	2024.0 kWh
30	Iran	21.8 TWh	5.6%	238.7 kWh
31	Chile	18.6 TWh	19.9%	934.4 kWh
32	Ethiopia	17.6 TWh	96.5%	136.9 kWh
33	Portugal	17.5 TWh	26.8%	1674.1 kWh
34	Germany	17.2 TWh	3.6%	202.9 kWh
35	Zambia	17.1 TWh	87.8%	824.7 kWh
36	North Korea	16.6 TWh	62.5%	630.5 kWh
37	Mozambique	16.2 TWh	82.7%	480.7 kWh
38	Egypt	14.5 TWh	6.2%	124.8 kWh
39	Congo - Kinshasa	13.7 TWh	79.0%	129.2 kWh
40	Angola	13.3 TWh	74.0%	361.1 kWh
41	Finland	13.2 TWh	14.9%	2338.1 kWh
42	Australia	13.0 TWh	4.9%	483.9 kWh
43	Romania	12.9 TWh	25.7%	684.0 kWh
44	Kyrgyzstan	11.6 TWh	67.7%	1574.5 kWh
45	Philippines	11.5 TWh	10.0%	98.4 kWh
46	Sudan	11.5 TWh	65.2%	229.8 kWh
47	Kazakhstan	11.3 TWh	9.4%	547.6 kWh
48	Ukraine	11.1 TWh	9.8%	270.4 kWh
49	Nepal	10.6 TWh	94.6%	356.4 kWh
50	Georgia	10.6 TWh	70.2%	2782.6 kWh
51	Costa Rica	9.74 TWh	71.6%	1887.8 kWh
52	Myanmar (Burma)	9.53 TWh	37.7%	174.8 kWh
53	Ghana	9.19 TWh	37.8%	272.0 kWh
54	Nigeria	9.08 TWh	22.6%	39.1 kWh
55	Thailand	9.07 TWh	3.9%	126.2 kWh
56	Albania	8.85 TWh	82.2%	3190.9 kWh
57	Serbia	8.68 TWh	23.4%	1304.3 kWh
58	Sri Lanka	7.95 TWh	40.5%	341.7 kWh
59	Republic of China (Taiwan)	7.47 TWh	2.6%	322.9 kWh
60	United Kingdom	7.27 TWh	2.3%	104.7 kWh
61	South Korea	6.91 TWh	1.1%	133.6 kWh
62	Uruguay	6.76 TWh	48.0%	1998.9 kWh
63	Uzbekistan	6.60 TWh	8.3%	185.1 kWh
64	Greece	6.54 TWh	11.8%	651.7 kWh
65	Panama	6.15 TWh	47.8%	1379.3 kWh
66	Guatemala	5.65 TWh	40.6%	311.7 kWh
67	Croatia	5.54 TWh	27.4%	1442.0 kWh
68	Zimbabwe	5.46 TWh	53.5%	334.1 kWh
69	Cambodia	5.30 TWh	24.7%	299.9 kWh
70	Cameroon	5.26 TWh	62.7%	185.4 kWh
71	Bosnia & Herzegovina	5.24 TWh	38.6%	1695.2 kWh
72	Uganda	4.98 TWh	86.6%	105.3 kWh
73	Bulgaria	4.50 TWh	11.5%	672.4 kWh
74	Honduras	3.88 TWh	32.6%	364.5 kWh
75	Kenya	3.63 TWh	23.3%	63.2 kWh
76	Côte d’Ivoire	3.35 TWh	30.1%	107.5 kWh
77	Slovakia	3.13 TWh	11.4%	565.6 kWh
78	Slovenia	3.13 TWh	22.5%	1461.0 kWh
79	Bolivia	3.01 TWh	25.1%	240.5 kWh
80	Guinea	3.00 TWh	74.1%	208.3 kWh
81	Azerbaijan	2.86 TWh	11.2%	274.1 kWh
82	Latvia	2.72 TWh	35.7%	1461.3 kWh
83	Tanzania	2.70 TWh	24.2%	40.5 kWh
84	South Africa	2.58 TWh	1.2%	39.7 kWh
85	Poland	2.42 TWh	1.4%	62.3 kWh
86	Czechia	2.30 TWh	3.1%	211.6 kWh
87	El Salvador	2.17 TWh	25.7%	342.6 kWh
88	Armenia	2.01 TWh	22.1%	686.4 kWh
89	Malawi	1.69 TWh	92.3%	82.2 kWh
90	Mali	1.64 TWh	35.8%	69.0 kWh
91	North Macedonia	1.58 TWh	18.7%	882.5 kWh
92	Gabon	1.52 TWh	40.3%	611.7 kWh
93	Dominican Republic	1.49 TWh	6.2%	129.1 kWh
94	Iraq	1.38 TWh	0.9%	30.6 kWh
95	Namibia	1.32 TWh	28.4%	445.5 kWh
96	Morocco	1.31 TWh	2.8%	34.2 kWh
97	Ireland	1.19 TWh	3.2%	223.7 kWh
98	Congo - Brazzaville	1.05 TWh	20.3%	169.8 kWh
99	Papua New Guinea	1.00 TWh	21.1%	96.3 kWh
100	Bangladesh	1.0 TWh	0.9%	5.6 kWh
101	Belgium	1.0 TWh	1.2%	82.0 kWh
102	Madagascar	0.8 TWh	31.1%	26.9 kWh
103	Lithuania	0.8 TWh	6.4%	270.5 kWh
104	Syria	0.8 TWh	3.7%	33.4 kWh
105	Afghanistan	0.8 TWh	10.4%	18.1 kWh
106	Lebanon	0.7 TWh	15.5%	121.2 kWh
107	Nicaragua	0.7 TWh	11.8%	95.3 kWh
108	Rwanda	0.6 TWh	51.9%	40.1 kWh
109	Equatorial Guinea	0.5 TWh	31.2%	265.2 kWh
110	Lesotho	0.5 TWh	52.7%	210.0 kWh
111	Senegal	0.3 TWh	3.6%	17.1 kWh
112	Belarus	0.3 TWh	0.7%	34.6 kWh
113	Eswatini	0.3 TWh	20.1%	243.8 kWh
114	Burundi	0.3 TWh	53.1%	19.0 kWh
115	Mauritania	0.2 TWh	10.4%	43.1 kWh
116	Haiti	0.2 TWh	18.8%	16.5 kWh
117	Hungary	0.2 TWh	0.4%	19.3 kWh
118	Sierra Leone	0.2 TWh	85.7%	21.3 kWh
119	Central African Republic	0.1 TWh	100.0%	27.5 kWh
120	Liberia	0.1 TWh	33.3%	23.7 kWh
121	Jamaica	0.1 TWh	2.7%	42.3 kWh
122	Cuba	0.1 TWh	0.8%	10.9 kWh
123	Burkina Faso	0.1 TWh	3.6%	5.2 kWh
124	Mauritius	0.1 TWh	2.8%	70.7 kWh
125	Togo	0.1 TWh	4.0%	8.6 kWh
126	Mongolia	0.1 TWh	0.6%	17.2 kWh
127	Moldova	0.0 TWh	1.2%	16.3 kWh
128	Netherlands	0.0 TWh	0.0%	2.2 kWh
129	Estonia	0.0 TWh	0.3%	16.7 kWh
130	Jordan	0.0 TWh	0.1%	1.8 kWh
131	Algeria	0.0 TWh	0.0%	0.4 kWh
132	Tunisia	0.0 TWh	0.0%	0.8 kWh
133	Turkmenistan	0.0 TWh	0.0%	1.4 kWh
134	Denmark	0.0 TWh	0.0%	1.5 kWh

14% of global electricity is generated from Hydropower in 2025/2026

Most Popular Pages