
Energy consumption in Mauritania
The most important figure in the energy balance of Mauritania is the total consumption of1.06 billion kWh
of electric energy per year. Per capita this is an average of 229 kWh.Mauritania can completely be self-sufficient with domestically produced energy. The total production of all electric energy producing facilities is one bn kWh, also 108 percent of own requirements. The rest of the domestically produced energy is either exported into other countries or unused. Along with pure consumption, the production, imports and exports play an important role. Other energy sources, such as natural gas or crude oil are also used.
Back to overview: Mauritania
Energy Balance
Electricity | total | Mauritania per capita | USA per capita |
---|---|---|---|
Own consumption | 1.06 bn kWh | 229.47 kWh | 11,756.77 kWh |
Production | 1.14 bn kWh | 246.81 kWh | 12,338.29 kWh |
47.3% of the country's population (as of 2020) has access to electricity.In rural areas, the share was 3.1% | |||
Crude Oil | Barrel/day | Mauritania per capita | USA per capita |
Production | 4,000.00 bbl | 0.001 bbl | 0.033 bbl |
Export | 5,333.00 bbl | 0.001 bbl | 0.003 bbl |
In 2018 there were still 20.00 m barrels of recoverable but not yet used crude oil reserves in the currently known deposits of Mauritania. Worldwide, there are still proved oil reserves totaling around 1.6 tn billion barrels. Mauritania therefore has a share of 0.001% and ranks 83rd out of 98 countries with crude oil reserves. |
CO₂ emissions
CO₂ emissions in 2019 | Mauritania per capita | USA per capita | |
---|---|---|---|
total | 3.95 m t | 0.90 t | 14.67 t |
Development of CO₂ emissions from 1960 to 2019 in million tons
See also: CO₂ equivalents by country

Production capacities per energy source
The given production capacities for electric energy have a theoretical value, which can only be obtained under ideal conditions. They are measuring the generatable amount of energy, that would be reached under permanent and full use of all capacities of all power plants.In practice this isn't possible, because e.g. solar collectors are less efficient under clouds. Also wind- and water-power plants are not always operating under full load. All these values are only useful in relation to other energy sources or countries.
Energy source | total in Mauritania | Percentage in Mauritania | Percentage USA | per capita in Mauritania | per capita USA |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fossil fuels | 3.18 bn kWh | 65,0 % | 70,0 % | 688.47 kWh | 20,083.19 kWh |
Nuclear power | 0.00 kWh | 0,0 % | 9,0 % | 0.00 kWh | 2,582.12 kWh |
Water power | 782.09 m kWh | 16,0 % | 7,0 % | 169.47 kWh | 2,008.32 kWh |
Renewable energy | 977.62 m kWh | 20,0 % | 14,0 % | 211.84 kWh | 4,016.64 kWh |
Total production capacity | 4.89 bn kWh | - | 100,0 % | 1,059.18 kWh | 28,690.27 kWh |
Actual total production | 1.14 bn kWh | 23.3 % | 43.0 % | 246.81 kWh | 12,338.29 kWh |
Note: The sum of each data in this table adds up to 101.00 percent and may not be accurate. Worlddata.info receives this data from the US Office of Public Affairs (CIA) and will not make any presumptuous changes to it.
Usage of renewable energies
Renewable energy includes wind, solar, biomass and geothermal energy sources. This means all energy sources that renew themselves within a short time or are permanently available. Energy from hydropower is only partly a renewable energy. This is certainly the case with river or tidal power plants. Otherwise, numerous dams or reservoirs also produce mixed forms, e.g. by pumping water into their reservoirs at night and recovering energy from them during the day when there is an increased demand for electricity. Since it is not possible to clearly determine the amount of generated energy, all energy from hydropower is displayed separately.In 2019, renewable energy accounted for around 24.7 percent of actual total consumption in Mauritania. The following chart shows the percentage share from 1990 to 2019:
