Rift & Coast

East Africa

East Africa’s clean cooking gap is widest in Kenya among eight countries

An estimated 68% of urban residents in Kenya relied primarily on clean cooking in 2024, against 14% of rural residents. The 54-point gap was the widest among the eight East African countries in this comparison.

Sources checked

Rift & Coast Editorial Team

Clean cooking accessRural and urban reliance in eight countries, 2024
  • KenyaRural 14% · Urban 68%
  • RwandaRural 1% · Urban 29%
  • EthiopiaRural 1% · Urban 27%
  • TanzaniaRural 3% · Urban 23%
  • SomaliaRural 1% · Urban 7%
  • UgandaRural 1% · Urban 4%
  • BurundiRural 0% · Urban 0%
  • South SudanRural 0% · Urban 0%

Open circles show rural shares. Filled circles show urban shares. Each connecting line measures the gap in percentage points.

Source 2 Source 3

National clean cooking reliance since 2000

Shared scale from zero to 40.00 %. A gap marks a year without an observation.

Burundi

Burundi · %2000: 0.00 · 2001: 0.00 · 2002: 0.00 · 2003: 0.00 · 2004: 0.00 · 2005: 0.00 · 2006: 0.00 · 2007: 0.00 · 2008: 0.00 · 2009: 0.00 · 2010: 0.00 · 2011: 0.00 · 2012: 0.00 · 2013: 0.00 · 2014: 0.00 · 2015: 0.00 · 2016: 0.00 · 2017: 0.00 · 2018: 0.00 · 2019: 0.00 · 2020: 0.00 · 2021: 0.00 · 2022: 0.00 · 2023: 0.00 · 2024: 0.00

20002024

0.00 % · 2024

Ethiopia

Ethiopia · %2000: 1.00 · 2001: 1.00 · 2002: 1.00 · 2003: 1.00 · 2004: 1.00 · 2005: 1.00 · 2006: 1.00 · 2007: 1.00 · 2008: 1.00 · 2009: 2.00 · 2010: 2.00 · 2011: 2.00 · 2012: 3.00 · 2013: 3.00 · 2014: 4.00 · 2015: 4.00 · 2016: 5.00 · 2017: 5.00 · 2018: 5.00 · 2019: 6.00 · 2020: 6.00 · 2021: 6.00 · 2022: 7.00 · 2023: 7.00 · 2024: 7.00

20002024

7.00 % · 2024

Kenya

Kenya · %2000: 2.00 · 2001: 2.00 · 2002: 3.00 · 2003: 3.00 · 2004: 4.00 · 2005: 5.00 · 2006: 5.00 · 2007: 6.00 · 2008: 7.00 · 2009: 7.00 · 2010: 8.00 · 2011: 8.00 · 2012: 9.00 · 2013: 10.00 · 2014: 11.00 · 2015: 12.00 · 2016: 14.00 · 2017: 16.00 · 2018: 18.00 · 2019: 20.00 · 2020: 22.00 · 2021: 25.00 · 2022: 27.00 · 2023: 30.00 · 2024: 32.00

20002024

32.00 % · 2024

Rwanda

Rwanda · %2000: 0.00 · 2001: 0.00 · 2002: 0.00 · 2003: 0.00 · 2004: 0.00 · 2005: 0.00 · 2006: 0.00 · 2007: 0.00 · 2008: 0.00 · 2009: 0.00 · 2010: 0.00 · 2011: 0.00 · 2012: 0.00 · 2013: 1.00 · 2014: 1.00 · 2015: 1.00 · 2016: 1.00 · 2017: 2.00 · 2018: 2.00 · 2019: 3.00 · 2020: 4.00 · 2021: 5.00 · 2022: 6.00 · 2023: 8.00 · 2024: 9.00

20002024

9.00 % · 2024

Somalia

Somalia · %2000: 0.00 · 2001: 0.00 · 2002: 0.00 · 2003: 0.00 · 2004: 0.00 · 2005: 0.00 · 2006: 1.00 · 2007: 1.00 · 2008: 1.00 · 2009: 1.00 · 2010: 1.00 · 2011: 1.00 · 2012: 1.00 · 2013: 2.00 · 2014: 2.00 · 2015: 2.00 · 2016: 3.00 · 2017: 3.00 · 2018: 3.00 · 2019: 4.00 · 2020: 4.00 · 2021: 4.00 · 2022: 4.00 · 2023: 5.00 · 2024: 5.00

20002024

5.00 % · 2024

South Sudan

South Sudan · %2000: 1.00 · 2001: 1.00 · 2002: 1.00 · 2003: 1.00 · 2004: 1.00 · 2005: 1.00 · 2006: 1.00 · 2007: 1.00 · 2008: 0.00 · 2009: 0.00 · 2010: 0.00 · 2011: 0.00 · 2012: 0.00 · 2013: 0.00 · 2014: 0.00 · 2015: 0.00 · 2016: 0.00 · 2017: 0.00 · 2018: 0.00 · 2019: 0.00 · 2020: 0.00 · 2021: 0.00 · 2022: 0.00 · 2023: 0.00 · 2024: 0.00

20002024

0.00 % · 2024

Tanzania

Tanzania · %2000: 1.00 · 2001: 1.00 · 2002: 1.00 · 2003: 1.00 · 2004: 1.00 · 2005: 1.00 · 2006: 1.00 · 2007: 1.00 · 2008: 1.00 · 2009: 1.00 · 2010: 1.00 · 2011: 2.00 · 2012: 2.00 · 2013: 2.00 · 2014: 3.00 · 2015: 4.00 · 2016: 4.00 · 2017: 5.00 · 2018: 6.00 · 2019: 7.00 · 2020: 8.00 · 2021: 8.00 · 2022: 9.00 · 2023: 10.00 · 2024: 11.00

20002024

11.00 % · 2024

Uganda

Uganda · %2000: 1.00 · 2001: 1.00 · 2002: 1.00 · 2003: 1.00 · 2004: 1.00 · 2005: 1.00 · 2006: 1.00 · 2007: 1.00 · 2008: 1.00 · 2009: 1.00 · 2010: 1.00 · 2011: 1.00 · 2012: 1.00 · 2013: 1.00 · 2014: 1.00 · 2015: 1.00 · 2016: 1.00 · 2017: 1.00 · 2018: 1.00 · 2019: 1.00 · 2020: 1.00 · 2021: 2.00 · 2022: 2.00 · 2023: 2.00 · 2024: 2.00

20002024

2.00 % · 2024

World Development Indicators, national clean cooking API series

Kenya’s urban share grew faster than its rural share

In 2015 Kenya’s urban estimate was 30%, compared with 3% in rural areas. By 2024 those figures were 68% and 14%. Both rose, but the urban gain of 38 percentage points was much larger than the rural gain of 11 points. Source 2 Source 3

The same measure reveals different national pictures

Tanzania’s 2024 estimate was 23% in urban areas and 3% in rural areas. Rwanda’s urban estimate was higher than Tanzania’s, at 29%, while its national estimate was lower, at 9% compared with Tanzania’s 11%. Each national estimate covers the country’s full population. Source 2 Source 3 Source 1

What a household is counted as using

SDG indicator 7.1.2 measures primary reliance on a clean cooking fuel or technology. A household may use several fuels, including polluting fuels for some tasks. The indicator records the primary source and cannot show how often other stoves or fuels are used. Source 4 Source 5

How to read a published zero

The displayed percentages are modelled from survey and census evidence and presented at whole-percentage precision. A zero is the estimate as published at that precision. It cannot establish that there were zero users. Source 4 Source 2 Source 3

How to compare the gaps over time

The table joins national, urban and rural data for the same country and year. The chart ranks the eight countries by their 2024 urban-to-rural difference, using a shared 0 to 100% scale. The gap measures inequality between two groups. The national column measures overall coverage. Source 1 Source 2 Source 3

Sources

Open the data and source notes