The 66 Countries Where Annual Average Electricity Consumption Per Person Is Less Than 1 Bitcoin Transaction

The map above is a world map only showing countries who’s annual average electricity consumption per person is less than that used to perform 1 Bitcoin Transaction (819 KWh according to the Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index).

A few quick facts:

• 66 countries/territories consume less electricity per person per year than that used for a single Bitcoin transaction (819 KWh at the time of writing).
• Over 1.5 billion people (20% of the World’s population) live in these countries which include: Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Ethiopia.
• It takes an estimated 94,000 KWh of electricity to mine one Bitcoin, which is almost double the average annual consumption per person in Iceland, which has the world’ highest per capita electricity usage.
• Mining one Bitcoin would also be enough to provide electricity for approximately 6 Canadians, 8 Americans, 10 Aussies or 20 Brits for an entire year.

Last year we wrote about how Bitcoin Mining Was Now Consuming More Electricity Than 159 Countries (update here) and The Estimated Electricity Cost Of Mining One Bitcoin By Country.

A lot has changed over the past 12 months.

For starters, Bitcoin is now worth “only” $6,338, far below it’s peak at $19,962 in December of last year.

However, one thing that hasn’t changed is that Bitcoin mining continues to use huge amount of energy, although the rate of increase has more or less stalled due to the lower price.

Based on the Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index (criticism of it can be found here), one single transaction now consumes an estimated 819 KWh of electricity, enough to power an average US household for 27 days or for many people around the world more electricity than they’ll use in a single year.

Based on Quandl’s data for September 2018 – there were 1,436 transactions per block and each block generates 12.5 Bitcoins.

This means that mining one Bitcoin coin currently uses an estimated 94,000 KWh of electricity ([1,436 transactions * 819 KWh per transaction] / 12.5 Bitcoins per Block).

To put that in perspective, that is 2X what an average Icelander will consume in a year or 6X an average Canadian, 8X an average American, 10X an average Aussie or 20X an average Brit.

Here’s a map showing Where Annual Average Electricity Consumption Per Person Is Less Than Mining One Bitcoin (Hint it’s every country in the world).

And in case your’re curious here’s a full list of countries by per capita electricity usage.

Country/Territory	Average electrical energy (kWh per person per year)
Mining One Bitcoin	94,086
Iceland	50,613
Liechtenstein	35,848
Norway	24,006
Kuwait	19,062
Bahrain	18,130
United Arab Emirates	16,195
Qatar	15,055
Canada	14,930
Finland	14,732
Sweden	12,853
United States	12,071
Luxembourg	10,647
Taiwan	10,632
Cayman Islands	10,477
Australia	9,742
Korea, South	9,720
Saudi Arabia	9,658
Guam	9,217
New Zealand	8,939
Brunei	8,625
Bermuda	8,506
Marshall Islands	8,177
Singapore	8,160
Austria	8,006
Macau	7,532
Russia	7,481
Saint Pierre and Miquelon	7,479
Trinidad and Tobago	7,456
Oman	7,450
Japan	7,371
Israel	7,319
New Caledonia	7,263
Belgium	7,099
Switzerland	7,091
Aruba	7,039
Gibraltar	6,819
Germany	6,602
Slovenia	6,572
Andorra	6,565
Estonia	6,515
Curacao	6,495
France	6,448
Jersey	6,425
Netherlands	6,346
Faroe Islands	5,945
Hong Kong	5,859
U.S. Virgin Islands	5,828
Denmark	5,720
Czech Republic	5,636
Puerto Rico	5,310
Slovakia	5,207
Greenland	5,196
Ireland	5,047
Kazakhstan	4,956
Greece	4,919
Bahamas	4,888
Spain	4,818
Malta	4,817
United Kingdom	4,795
Falkland Islands	4,759
Italy	4,692
China	4,475
Montenegro	4,343
Bulgaria	4,338
Portugal	4,245
Malaysia	4,232
Northern Mariana Islands	4,190
Montserrat	4,061
Croatia	3,933
South Africa	3,904
Turks and Caicos Islands	3,888
Saint Kitts and Nevis	3,821
Serbia	3,766
Chile	3,739
Poland	3,686
Lithuania	3,468
Latvia	3,459
Belarus	3,448
Macedonia	3,314
Cook Islands	3,308
Suriname	3,243
Ukraine	3,234
Cyprus	3,234
Seychelles	3,219
Antigua and Barbuda	3,205
Niue	3,126
Barbados	3,087
Uruguay	2,984
British Virgin Islands	2,921
Bosnia and Herzegovina	2,848
Bhutan	2,779
World	2,674
Argentina	2,643
Iran	2,632
Turkey	2,578
Lebanon	2,565
Albania	2,564
Venezuela	2,523
Brazil	2,516
Turkmenistan	2,456
French Polynesia	2,453
Nauru	2,424
Thailand	2,404
Romania	2,222
Hungary	2,182
Panama	2,105
Azerbaijan	2,025
Georgia	1,988
Jordan	1,954
Mexico	1,932
Mauritius	1,928
West Bank	1,927
Kyrgyzstan	1,920
Costa Rica	1,888
Mongolia	1,847
American Samoa	1,845
Saint Lucia	1,824
Grenada	1,798
Micronesia, Federated States of	1,705
Botswana	1,674
Armenia	1,671
Uzbekistan	1,628
Kosovo	1,533
Namibia	1,518
Egypt	1,510
Tajikistan	1,440
Dominican Republic	1,427
Libya	1,421
Paraguay	1,413
Cuba	1,400
Korea, North	1,347
Tunisia	1,341
Vietnam	1,312
Ecuador	1,305
Colombia	1,270
Peru	1,268
Moldova	1,226
Dominica	1,223
Algeria	1,216
Gabon	1,207
Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha	1,193
Belize	1,130
India	1,122
Iraq	1,101
Guyana	1,087
Indonesia	1,058
Swaziland	1,033
Syria	989
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	977
Jamaica	942
El Salvador	925
Philippines	885
Fiji	874
Morocco	861
Bitcoin Transaction	819
Maldives	763
Nicaragua	739
Zambia	709
Bolivia	683
Honduras	595
Guatemala	586
Laos	555
Zimbabwe	549
Cabo Verde	542
Samoa	502
Sri Lanka	494
Djibouti	472
Mozambique	462
Papua New Guinea	441
Tonga	436
Lesotho	409
Pakistan	405
Angola	401
Bangladesh	351
Ghana	341
Sao Tome and Principe	329
Sudan	269
Kiribati	260
Cambodia	256
Cameroon	250
Ivory Coast	244
Mauritania	217
Senegal	209
Vanuatu	201
Myanmar	193
Yemen	189
Congo, Republic of the	185
Kenya	162
Gambia	149
Western Sahara	142
Afghanistan	141
Togo	141
Nepal	134
Nigeria	128
Solomon Islands	124
Equatorial Guinea	120
Congo, Democratic Republic of the	114
Malawi	102
Timor-Leste	99
Tanzania	95
Benin	93
Mali	80
Guinea	74
Uganda	70
Liberia	69
Ethiopia	65
Niger	64
Burkina Faso	61
South Sudan	55
Madagascar	53
Eritrea	51
Comoros	51
Rwanda	38
Haiti	38
Burundi	36
Central African Republic	36
Sierra Leone	33
Somalia	27
Guinea-Bissau	17
Chad	16
Gaza Strip	0.1

Note about data/sources:

There are two important things to note about the data above. First, is that we’ve used the Digiconomist Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index, which has it’s critics. We won’t go into them here, but just keep in mind they are providing an educated estimate.

The second is that electricity consumption per capita data comes from Wikipedia. This means most of the data is a couple of years out of date and comes from a variety of sources. Moreover, the numbers here represent the total amount of electricity consumed in a country divided by the population. Thus, it includes not just electricity used in homes but also offices, shops, factories, etc.

• Map created using MapChart.net
• Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index
• List of countries by electricity consumption
• Bitcoin Number of Transaction per Block
• Bitcoin Block Reward Halving Countdown
• How does Bitcoin work?

Also see:

• Top 11 Ofgem Approved Energy Price Comparison Sites: Which Is Best?
• Business Electricity Rate Comparison
• Compare Gas & Electricity Prices: Cheapest Dual Fuel Tariffs In 2019
• Compare 2019 Electricity Prices: Average UK Rates & Tariffs Per kWh