Survey No. 002 ·
Runs on hydropower
Every hatched country generated at least 80% of its electricity from hydropower in 2023. These are the five countries that were left blank.
The five blank spots
- Paraguay: Paraguay shares the giant Itaipú and Yacyretá dams with Brazil and Argentina; hydro made 99.5% of its electricity.
- Albania: Albania gets almost all its power from dams on the Drin and other mountain rivers: 96.7% in 2023.
- Zambia: Zambia draws most of its power from the Kariba dam, shared with Zimbabwe, and the Kafue Gorge stations: 87.8% hydro in 2023.
- Kyrgyzstan: Kyrgyzstan's grid is anchored by the Toktogul reservoir on the Naryn River; hydro made 86.5% of its power.
- Uganda: Uganda harnesses the Nile as it leaves Lake Victoria at Jinja; hydro made 86.3% of its electricity in 2023.
Survey notes
Hydropower is the world's largest source of renewable electricity, but only a handful of countries run almost entirely on it. Mountain rivers and big dams explain most of this map, from Norway's fjords to the Himalayan countries of Bhutan and Nepal. Heavy dependence has a cost: when droughts lower the reservoirs, these grids have to ration power or import it.
Rule and sources
Hydropower share of electricity generation >= 80% in 2023 (Ember and Energy Institute, via Our World in Data).
All 16 countries in the set: Albania, Bhutan, Central African Republic, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal, Norway, Paraguay, Sierra Leone, Tajikistan, Uganda, Venezuela, Zambia.
How it was checked: Every one of the 193 UN member states was tested against the rule using the Our World in Data snapshot taken on 31 October 2026; 13 had no figure and were left out of the survey.
Sources: Share of electricity generated by hydropower - Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0)