The Country Similarity Index attempts to quantify how similar countries are to each other relative to other countries. The index is a statistically-based way to measure this. 20% of the index is based on technology. 12.5% of a country’s technology score (2.5% of the overall Country Similarity Index score) is allocated for the country’s energy statistics. The following are the statistics that were included in the calculation:
Energy Source
The way countries create electricity can vary greatly even between similar countries. In the Middle East and tropical island countries, natural gas and oil tend to be the primary sources of fuel. In mountainous countries with significant rainfall, hydroelectricity is used more often. Nuclear power is used in Europe to varying degrees. France has the highest percentage of electricity created by nuclear power with over 70%. No country uses wind, solar, geothermal, or biomass as their primary fuel.
The World Bank and Wikipedia are the sources of the data:
http://wdi.worldbank.org/table/3.7
Energy sources included the following types:
Biomass, Coal, Natural Gas, Geothermal, Hydro, Nuclear, Oil, Solar, Wind
Electricity Use
Iceland uses by far the most electricity per capita, due to the abundance of renewable energy and a cold climate. However, some countries in extremely hot locations also use a lot of electricity to cool their buildings, like in countries bordering the Persian Gulf. In contrast, the countries that use the least amount of electricity and mostly located in Africa.
The World Bank is the source of the data:
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.USE.ELEC.KH.PC?view=chart
Countries categorized into the following groups by electrical usage in kWh per capita:
0-212, 212-425, 425-850, 850-1700, 1700-3400, 3400-6800, 6800-13600, 13600-27200, 27200-54400
Electrical Grid Access
The citizens of most countries have nearly 100 percent access to the electrical grid. However there are still some countries that lag considerably behind. Sub-Saharan African countries tend to have the least access to the grid. In Burundi, South Sudan, and Chad, less than 10% of people have access.
The Our World in Data is the source of the statistics:
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-the-population-with-access-to-electricity?region=World
Countries were categorized into the following groups by percentage of people with access to the electrical grid:
0-20, 20-40, 40-55, 55-70, 70-80, 80-90, 90-95, 95-100