China vs United States: Electricity generation from fossil fuels, nuclear and renewables

China

6,175 terawatt-hours

in 2025

United States

2,576 terawatt-hours

in 2025

China rank

1st

United States rank

2nd

Electricity generation from fossil fuels, nuclear and renewables over time

China currently reports 6,175 terawatt-hours against 2,576 terawatt-hours in United States, a difference of 3,599 terawatt-hours.

That makes China's figure about 2.4 times United States's.

The two have swapped places 1 time across 41 shared years of data; in 1985 it was United States ahead.

China ranks 1st and United States ranks 2nd of 208 countries.

Indicator: Electricity generation from fossil fuels, nuclear and renewables
Unit: terawatt-hours
Source: Ember (2026) and other sources – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 210 places, 6,017 data points, 1920–2025
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026

Electricity generation from coal, oil, and gas, measured in terawatt-hours.