Three in four people now cook mainly with gas, electricity or other clean options, but about 2 billion still burn wood, charcoal, dung, crop waste, coal or kerosene at home, and in sub-Saharan Africa their number is still rising.
Written from the sources listed below, not independently peer-reviewed.
Out of every 100 people in sub-Saharan Africa, how many cooked mainly with clean fuels and technologies such as gas or electricity in 2024?
About 2.0 billion
People cooking mainly with polluting fuels
About 75% of the world population relied mainly on clean cooking in 2024. Around 1.5 billion of those without access lived in rural areas.
Data year 2024. Source: IEA, IRENA, UN Statistics Division, World Bank and WHO, 2026
2.9 million
Deaths from household air pollution
Modelled WHO estimate for 2021, including more than 309,000 children under five. Household smoke accounts for 44% of pneumonia deaths in children under five.
Data year 2021. Source: World Health Organization, 2025
US$770 million
Annual investment in clean cooking in Africa
Up from US$590 million in 2020, with about 70% coming from private capital and consumer spending. The IEA estimates that closing the gap would take about US$4 billion a year.
Data year 2024. Source: International Energy Agency, 2026
Unit: billion people
Modelled estimates for SDG indicator 7.1.2 from the Tracking SDG 7 database, rounded to 0.1 billion. The number barely changed between 2000 and 2010 and has fallen since, while the global access rate rose from about 56% in 2010 to about 75% in 2024. The global decline hides a rising number in sub-Saharan Africa.
SDG target 7.1 calls for universal access to modern energy, including clean cooking, by 2030. On current trends about 79% of the world will have clean cooking by 2030, leaving around 1.8 billion people relying mainly on polluting fuels; IEA and WHO projections put the 2030 figure at 1.6 to 1.8 billion. Reaching everyone would need about US$8 billion a year, roughly half of it in sub-Saharan Africa.
About 970 million people in sub-Saharan Africa lacked clean cooking in 2024, around half of the global total, and the number may reach 1 billion by 2027.
Source: IEA, IRENA, UN Statistics Division, World Bank and WHO, 2026Rural households lag far behind: in 2024, 89% of people in cities cooked mainly with clean fuels, and about 1.5 billion of the 2.0 billion people without access lived in rural areas.
Source: IEA, IRENA, UN Statistics Division, World Bank and WHO, 2026Households without clean cooking in Africa spend on average about four hours a day collecting fuel and cooking, and women and children carry most of that burden.
Source: International Energy Agency, 2026Almost 50 million people who have been forced from their homes may lack clean cooking, and they are largely missing from national data and plans.
Source: IEA, IRENA, UN Statistics Division, World Bank and WHO, 2026Each country is shaded by its latest available value, so you can see where the gap is widest. Hover or tap a country, search for one, or open the full table.
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Share of the population that does not rely mainly on clean fuels and technologies (electricity, gas, biogas, ethanol, solar or compliant stoves) for cooking, shown as 100 minus the reported share. Latest year available per country (years can differ); modelled by WHO from household surveys, and only the main cooking fuel is counted, so households that still also use open fires are not visible.
Source: WHO (Tracking SDG 7), via World Bank Open Data. Latest year available per country; years differ.
Values load from World Bank Open Data. Simplified Natural Earth borders; they imply no position on disputed territories.
Instead of one “percent solved” score, DO GOOD rates three separate dimensions. A problem can have mature solutions that still reach too few people. These ratings are an editorial reading of the sources on this page, not a measured index.
Has the situation improved in the real world?
ModerateThe number of people without clean cooking fell from about 3.0 billion in 2010 to 2.0 billion in 2024, and the global access rate rose from about 56% to 75%. In sub-Saharan Africa, however, the number without access is still growing.
How mature and validated are the available solutions?
HighLPG, natural gas, biogas, ethanol and electric cooking are proven technologies that remove most smoke at the point of use. The main open problems are cost, fuel supply and sustained use, not the technology itself.
How widely are effective solutions actually used?
ModerateAbout three in four people worldwide cook mainly with clean options, but in sub-Saharan Africa only 23% do, and investment there was about US$770 million in 2024, far below the roughly US$4 billion a year the IEA estimates is needed.
Access figures rest on household surveys in most countries but are modelled for recent years and record only the main cooking fuel. Agencies differ on deaths (2.9 million from WHO, about 2.5 million cited by the IEA) and on 2030 projections (1.6 to 1.8 billion people still without access).
Asia has made fast progress, while in Africa the number of people without access rose by about 14 million in 2024 even though nearly 12 million people gained access that year, about three times the 2010 pace.
Cooking is the most basic daily use of energy, yet about 2 billion people, a quarter of humanity, still prepare most of their meals over open fires or simple stoves burning wood, charcoal, animal dung, crop waste, coal or kerosene. The smoke stays inside homes and is linked to pneumonia, heart disease, stroke, chronic lung disease and lung cancer. WHO estimates that household air pollution caused about 2.9 million deaths in 2021, including more than 309,000 children under five. Collecting fuel and tending smoky fires also takes hours of unpaid time, most of it from women and girls. This page covers the household cooking gap itself; access to electricity and outdoor air quality are covered on separate pages.
Since 2010 the number of people without clean cooking has fallen by about a billion, driven mainly by progress in India, China and Indonesia. Africa has gone the other way: population growth outpaces new connections, about 970 million people in sub-Saharan Africa lacked clean cooking in 2024, and the figure may pass 1 billion by 2027. Most of the people still cooking with polluting fuels live in rural areas, where fuel delivery is harder and wood can be gathered for free. Even households that buy a gas stove often fall back on firewood when a refill is too expensive, and fuel price shocks, such as the jump in LPG prices in 2026, put recent gains at risk.
Progress is tracked through SDG indicator 7.1.2, the share of the population relying primarily on clean fuels and technologies for cooking. It is estimated mainly from household surveys and published by the custodian agencies, including WHO, in the annual Tracking SDG 7 report.
Clean at the point of use
WHO counts solar, electricity, biogas, LPG, natural gas and alcohol fuels such as ethanol as clean, because they emit little smoke where food is cooked. Biomass stoves count only if they meet the emission targets in WHO's indoor air quality guidelines; most so-called improved wood and charcoal stoves do not.
Kerosene and solid fuels are polluting
Wood, charcoal, crop waste, dung and coal are classed as polluting, and so is kerosene, even though it is a liquid fuel. Kerosene is also a common cause of burns and of accidental poisoning in children.
Main fuel only
Surveys record the fuel a household uses most for cooking. Families that use a gas or electric stove alongside an open fire, a common practice known as stacking, can therefore be counted as having clean cooking while still breathing smoke.
Health effects are modelled
Deaths are estimated by combining exposure, population and disease data with risk curves from health studies. Results differ by method: WHO estimates 2.9 million deaths from household air pollution in 2021, while the IEA cites about 2.5 million deaths a year linked to cooking with traditional biomass.
What works
Gas connections, a first cylinder and a stove supplied through national programmes can move millions of households away from wood and dung within a few years. India's Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana had about 103 million connections by July 2025.
Limits
Refills cost money every month. Average refills per Ujjwala household rose only from about 3 a year in 2019-20 to about 4.5 in 2024-25, which suggests many families still also cook with other fuels. Programmes rely on recurring subsidies and imported fuel: India imports about 60% of its LPG.
What works
LPG is by far the most common clean option in Africa, used by more than 70% of people there who have clean cooking. Lower taxes, safe cylinder recirculation schemes and distribution networks reaching rural towns help companies and households switch.
Limits
Many African countries import LPG, so prices follow world markets. About 30% of global seaborne LPG trade passes through the Strait of Hormuz, and disruption there in 2026 pushed up prices sharply, especially in countries without regulated pricing such as Nigeria and Uganda.
What works
Efficient electric appliances such as pressure cookers and induction hobs produce no smoke and can use grid, mini-grid or solar power. Electricity is the second most widely used clean cooking option in Africa after LPG.
Limits
Electricity is still a small part of the global clean cooking mix and is used mainly in cities. Where grids are weak, unreliable or expensive, households cannot rely on it for every meal, and appliances add an upfront cost.
What works
Clear national clean cooking strategies, fuel and appliance standards, tax reforms and public funding lower costs and attract private investment. More than 120 new clean cooking policies and programmes were implemented or announced in Africa between 2024 and early 2026.
Limits
Of the US$2.2 billion pledged at the 2024 International Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa, nearly US$740 million had been disbursed by the end of May 2026, so most commitments have yet to reach projects.
What works
Where gas or electricity is out of reach, more efficient wood and charcoal stoves can reduce fuel use and cooking time, and some are financed through carbon credits.
Limits
Most improved biomass stoves do not meet WHO emission targets, so they still expose families to harmful smoke and do not count as clean cooking. Investment in biomass cookstoves fell in 2024 as development finance and carbon credit activity slowed.
Promising, but not proven at scale. The stage shows how far each approach has come; it is not a recommendation.
Companies sell LPG or ethanol in small amounts through prepaid meters or mobile money, so households do not need to pay for a full cylinder at once. The model is being tried in several African countries, but evidence on whether it reaches poor rural households and stays profitable without subsidies is still limited.
India and Indonesia are running campaigns to move some households from LPG to electric cooking, partly to reduce fuel imports. In those markets 80–90% of households rely on LPG today, so it is too early to know how many will switch.
Off-grid solar and mini-grid companies are testing larger systems and efficient appliances that can power an electric pressure cooker, aiming to close the electricity and clean cooking gaps together. Costs per household remain high, and the small solar systems most off-grid households have cannot power cooking.
Carbon credits from cookstove and fuel-switching projects could pay part of the cost of clean cooking, and new methods aim to measure stove use and emission savings more conservatively. Carbon credit activity slowed in 2024, and investment in biomass cookstoves fell.
Implementation gap
Many households can afford a stove but not regular refills, so they return to free or cheap wood and charcoal. Even in India's subsidised Ujjwala scheme, households bought about 4.5 refills on average in 2024-25.
Implementation gap
Nearly 12 million people in Africa gained clean cooking in 2024, about three times the 2010 pace, but the number without access still rose by about 14 million.
Coordination gap
Clean cooking investment in Africa reached about US$770 million in 2024, compared with the roughly US$4 billion a year the IEA estimates would close the gap. Globally, about US$8 billion a year is needed.
Coordination gap
Countries that import LPG are exposed to world market prices and supply disruptions. When prices jump, households cut back on gas and return to polluting fuels, and governments face rising subsidy bills.
Technology gap
Electric cooking needs a supply that is reliable and affordable at mealtimes. In many places where clean cooking is lacking, households have no electricity or only a small solar system, and electricity remains a small part of the clean cooking mix.
Knowledge gap
Surveys record only a household's main cooking fuel, so continued use of open fires alongside gas stoves is largely invisible. Almost 50 million forcibly displaced people who may lack clean cooking are largely missing from national data.
Unresolved questions, not vetted breakthroughs. Answering any of them would change what is possible.
When households keep using open fires some of the time, or neighbours still burn wood, how far does exposure actually fall, and how large are the resulting health gains for children and adults?
Do refill subsidies, cash transfers, small cylinders or pay-as-you-go models do most to keep poor households cooking with gas or electricity year after year, and at what public cost?
Under what grid, mini-grid and tariff conditions can efficient electric appliances become the main cooking method for rural households, and who should pay for the extra power capacity?
Which measurement and verification methods give credible estimates of stove use and emission savings, so that carbon credits can fund clean cooking without overstating benefits?
Donate to or volunteer with groups that help families switch to clean fuels and that publish how they measure sustained stove use, not only the number of stoves handed out.
If you or your employer buy offsets from cookstove projects, ask how stove use and emission savings are monitored and independently verified before you rely on the claimed impact.
Share reliable information, such as WHO's fact sheet on household air pollution, so that clean cooking is understood as a health and gender issue and not only an energy one.
Encourage your government or local representatives to include clean cooking in development aid and climate finance and to report how much is actually disbursed.
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IEA, IRENA, UN Statistics Division, World Bank and WHO, published 2026
Official custodian report on SDG 7 with data for 2024: about 75% clean cooking access and 2.0 billion people without, rural and urban split, about 970 million without access in sub-Saharan Africa, displaced people, main contributors to progress, 2030 projections and the US$8 billion annual investment need.
Tracking SDG 7 custodian agencies (ESMAP, World Bank), published 2026
Annual global series 2000–2024 of people with and without access to clean cooking fuels and technologies (billions) and the global access rate.
International Energy Agency, published 2026
IEA progress report (9 July 2026) on sub-Saharan Africa: 23% access in 2024, people gaining access per year, investment of US$770 million in 2024 versus about US$4 billion a year needed, fuel mix, LPG price shocks, delivery of the US$2.2 billion pledged at the 2024 summit and new policies. Figures from the overview and executive summary pages.
World Health Organization, published 2025
WHO fact sheet (16 December 2025): definitions of clean and polluting fuels, 2.9 million deaths in 2021 including over 309,000 children under five, 44% of child pneumonia deaths, burden on women and children, kerosene poisoning and short-lived climate pollutants.
Prime Minister's Office, Government of India, published 2025
Official release (8 August 2025): about 10.33 crore (103 million) Ujjwala LPG connections as of 1 July 2025, average refills rising from about 3 (2019-20) to 4.47 (2024-25), Rs 300 subsidy per cylinder and about 60% of LPG imported.
DO GOOD International (2026). Clean Cooking for Every Home. Global Challenges. Updated October 15, 2026. https://www.dogood.world/challenges/clean-cooking
For figures, please cite the original sources listed above.