The Global Energy Outage Report

The reliability of the global energy grid is becoming more threatened every year. With the increased stress on power grids and soaring energy consumption, these challenges aren’t something that many countries’ infrastructures were built for. 

Naturally, some households may be feeling the impact of this. Global power outage risks are increasing, and people are experiencing disruptions, including internet access problems, medical device failures, security system downtime, food safety issues, property damage, and rising energy bills. 

To illustrate the scale of global power outage risks, the energy comparison service iSelect analysed data from 33 countries to determine which regions are most susceptible to power outages. 

Read on to find out which countries are seeing the most significant risks, and what households can do to help prepare for declining energy grid reliability. 

Which countries are at the highest risk of blackouts? 

For the global energy outage report, we analysed each country based on a combination of factors, including outage frequency and duration, climate risk, renewable energy share, and vulnerable population size. 

The top 10 countries surveyed with the worst energy outage rankings were: 

However, while these countries have the highest overall risk scores, the reasons vary significantly. Pakistan and Niger frequently experience long outages, whereas the U.S. and Brazil exhibit high population vulnerability despite having stronger energy systems. 

These differences reveal how diverse risk profiles can still lead to similar overall instability, and how significant each factor can be for a country. 

Which populations are most at risk?  

We measured the vulnerability of populations based on the percentage of the older people and people living in poverty. 

These groups are more likely to suffer serious health and safety impacts when energy systems fail if they rely on medical equipment, have mobility issues, lack backup power, and may experience a longer recovery. The study revealed Japan (21.94%), Italy (19.30%), and the US (17.57%) have the highest populations at risk for these factors. 

Meanwhile, Niger (3.58%), Pakistan (3.70%), and India (5.04%) had a significantly lower population at risk, although this may be due to their lower reliance on energy requirements compared to Western nations. . 

Which countries rely the most on renewable energy? 

Renewable energy output refers to the percentage of a country’s electricity that comes from renewable sources such as solar, wind, hydroelectric, or geothermal energy. With a higher renewable output, the countries leading the way are Uganda (90.03%), Mozambique (82.72%) and Brazil (77.38%), signalling progress towards sustainable energy in these nations. However, without proper backup, this could pose risks during blackouts. 

It’s essential to have access to such systems that can help to mitigate the issues caused by other global energy issues. Countries with significantly lower renewable energy outputs are Algeria (0.91%), Niger (6.38%), and South Africa (6.46%), which are often more vulnerable to fuel supply issues, price volatility, and strain on national grids during power outages. 

Which countries have the most prolonged and most frequent power outages? 

Every outage can cause a strain on infrastructure and impact households, but the longer and more frequent the outages are, the harder it is to recover. 

For Niger and Pakistan, which face the most prolonged and frequent outages, these can have a massive impact on everyday life. However, South Korea and Japan experienced the shortest duration of power outages and the lowest frequencies, making them more likely to bounce back from an outage.  . 

Which countries are most at risk from climate change? 

The Climate Risk Score reflects a country’s exposure to climate-related disasters such as floods, storms and heatwaves. The countries with a higher score were considered to be at a higher risk. 

According to the Energy Outage report, countries across the Middle East and parts of Southern Europe are among the most impacted, with Pakistan (53.63), Italy (30.0), and Spain (22.13) having the highest climate risk. In contrast Türkiye, Ghana, and Uzbekistan had the lowest at risk, overall. 

Australia’s energy outage – how does it compare? 

Despite the increasing rates of flooding and wildfires, Australia is at moderate risk of energy outage issues, with an overall score of 16.28, indicating a relatively strong energy stability ranking and infrastructure that is well-suited to handle the strain of outages. 

Its strengths lie in the low frequency (0.60) and duration (1.00) of the system interruptions, which allow the country to recover quickly. 

However, other factors that could contribute to issues in the future include a moderate CRI score of 5.85, which exposes Australia to some extreme weather, and a small reliance on renewable energy output (26.66%) that could cause stress on the national grid during intense periods of pressure.