Off-grid solar now reaches 149 million people—up 26% in two years.
Small solar systems are powering homes, jobs and 7.4 million microenterprises.
Off-grid solar reached 149 million people in 2025—26 percent more than in 2023—and is now tied to hundreds of thousands of jobs and millions of small businesses.
WHAT HAPPENED
The World Bank's latest market report says off-grid solar is the least-cost route to electricity for 398 million people. It attributes 219,000 jobs and 7.4 million microenterprise users to the sector. In surveyed markets, 95 percent of customers said systems bought more than four years earlier were still functioning.
WHY THIS IS HOPESLOP
This is distributed infrastructure doing several jobs at once: light, refrigeration, communications and productive equipment. The gains are real, but not automatic. The report warns that sales growth has slowed and financing and affordability gaps could stall further expansion.
ORIGINAL SOURCEWorld Bank / GOGLARead the original report
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