Population data from the 2024 revision of United Nations Population Prospects and the 2018 Revision of World Urbanization Prospects were used to derive the population-weighted regional and global aggregates. Low- and middle-income countries without data were excluded from all aggregate calculations; high-income countries were excluded from aggregate calculation for specific fuels. 

Many of the point estimates we provide here are accompanied by 95 percent uncertainty intervals, which imply a 95 percent chance that the true value lies within the given range. Small annual changes in the point estimate may be statistical noise arising from either the modelling process or survey variability and may therefore not reflect a real variation in the numbers relying on different fuels between years. The uncertainty intervals should therefore be considered when assessing changes in the access rate, or in the use of specific fuels, between years.

The SDG 7.a.1 uses a combination of two databases to account for international public financial flows. First, the OECD/DAC Creditor Reporting System (CRS) database from the OECD. Then the Renewable Energy Public Finance Database from IRENA.

From the OECD, official development assistance (ODA) and other official flows (OOF) to developing countries together comprise the public financial support that donors provide to developing countries for renewable energy. These flows are defined as the sum of official loans, grants, and equity investments that “DAC countries” (ODA recipients listed by the Development Assistance Committee) receive from foreign governments and multilateral agencies for clean energy research to develop and produce renewable energy (including in hybrid systems).