Germany posts the largest net gain, while Brazil retains the highest share

Germany stands out in a five-country comparison of renewable electricity shares. Between the first observation in 1990 and the latest in 2021, it posted the largest net increase among Germany, China, the United States, India and Brazil. It also moved from the lowest starting share in this group to the second-highest latest share. These are endpoint comparisons: they establish how the beginning and latest observations differ, without describing what happened in every intervening year.

Change and level tell different stories

From within Germany, the change is best read as a shift in the composition of electricity output. Renewable sources occupied only a small share at the starting observation; by the latest observation, they accounted for a large minority. That domestic before-and-after is more informative than treating Germany as a universal template. The comparison shows neither a common starting point nor a common direction across the countries.

The country with the biggest net gain was not the country with the highest latest renewable share.

Brazil supplies the crucial counterpoint. Its latest renewable share was still the highest of the group, even though it was lower than at the first observation. China and the United States each ended above their starting shares, while India ended below its own. Germany therefore led this selection in net gain, but Brazil led in latest level. A ranking of change and a ranking of latest share answer different questions, and neither should be substituted for the other.

What the indicator measures

The World Bank indicator measures electricity production from renewable sources as a share of total electricity output. It does not show the renewable share of all energy use. Because the latest observation here is 2021, the figures should be read as a historical endpoint rather than a description of the present grid. Taken together, the endpoints reveal a varied picture: some countries increased their renewable electricity share, others decreased it, and the country with the biggest gain was not the country with the highest latest share.