Energy Indicators for Sustainable Development: Guidelines and Methodologies International Atomic Energy Agency United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs International Energy Agency Eurostat European Environment Agency

(b) Measuring Methods: This indicator is defined by the share of households (or 
population) without access to commercial energy or electricity and by the share of 
households for which dependence on non-commercial (traditional) fuel exceeds 75% 
of total energy use.  
(c) Limitations of the Indicators: Availability of data on the number of households 
or share of the population without access to commercial energy or electricity may be a 
limitation. Heavy dependence on non-commercial energy, defined as 75% dependence 
on traditional energy, is an arbitrary benchmark for this indicator. 
(d) Alternative Definitions/Indicators: An alternative indicator that may be useful is 
‘Per capita consumption of non-commercial or traditional energy’. However, this does 
not really capture the essence of the issue. 
ASSESSMENT OF DATA 
(a) Data Needed to Compile the Indicator: The number of households or share of 
the population without access to electricity or to commercial energy and for which the 
share of non-commercial fuel consumption exceeds 75% of their energy use, and the 
total number of households in a specific country or a region. 
(b) National and International Data Availability and Sources: The most important 
source of data on commercial and non-commercial fuel and electricity consumption is 
household surveys. The results of these surveys can be obtained from reports 
published by government statistical agencies. About two-thirds of the developing
 
countries have conducted sample household surveys that are representative nationally, 
and some of these provide high-quality data on living standards. International 
agencies such as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) also carry out their 
own surveys of households. 
Data on household fuel and electricity consumption by average population are 
available from the International Energy Agency (IEA) Energy Balances of OECD 
Countries and Energy Balances of Non-OECD Countries. 
REFERENCES 
• Chen, S., Datt, G., Ravallion, M., 1992. POVCAL: A Program for Calculating 
Poverty Measures from Grouped Data. Washington DC, USA: World Bank, 
Poverty and Human Resources Division, Policy Research Department. 
• IEA, various editions. Energy Balances of Non-OECD Countries. Paris, 
France: International Energy Agency. 
• IEA, various editions. Energy Balances of OECD Countries. Paris, France: 
International Energy Agency. 
• IEA, various editions. Energy Statistics of Non-OECD Countries. Paris, 
France: International Energy Agency. 

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• IEA, various editions. Energy Statistics of OECD Countries. Paris, France: 
International Energy Agency. 
• UNICEF. MICS Household Surveys. New York, USA: United Nations 
Children’s Fund. Available at www.childinfo.org. 
• UNSD, 1991. Energy Statistics: A Manual for Developing Countries. New 
York, USA: United Nations Statistics Division. 
• WEC, 2000. Energy for Tomorrow’s World — Acting Now. London, UK: 
World Energy Council. 
• World Bank, various editions. World Development Indicators. Published 
annually. Washington DC, USA: World Bank.