Bioenergy statistics 1990–2023

FAOSTAT releases today new data on bioenergy from 1990 to 2023. The data covers 193 countries and 22 territories, with regional and global aggregates.

Launched in 2024, the FAOSTAT Bioenergy domain provides information on the production and final consumption of bioenergy by type of biofuel: solid biofuels (animal waste, bagasse, black liquor, charcoal, fuelwood, other vegetal material and residues); liquid biofuels (bio jet kerosene, biodiesel, biogasoline, other liquid biofuels), and gaseous biofuels (biogas). The conversion from physical units to energy is done by FAO according to the International Recommendations for Energy Statistics (IRES) and the UN Statistical Division (UNSD) guidelines.

The bioenergy domain is the result of a collaboration between FAO Statistics Division (ESS), FAO Office of Climate and Biodiversity (OCB) and the UN Statistical Division (UNSD). 

Main findings:

• World bioenergy production increased from about 28 exajoules (EJ) to 50 EJ between 1990 and 2023. Over the same period, world bioenergy final consumption increased from 24 EJ to 40 EJ.
• In 2023, world total bioenergy final consumption was largely solid biofuels (35 EJ, or 89 percent), followed by liquid biofuels (4.4 EJ, or 11 percent) and gaseous biofuels (0.1 EJ, or 0.3 percent).
• Bioenergy final consumption of liquid and gaseous biofuels grew roughly by 9 percent and 8 percent per year on average, respectively, between 1990 and 2023. Final consumption of solid biofuels grew by a much smaller amount, about 1 percent per year on average.
• In 2023, three biofuels represented nearly 80 percent of world total bioenergy final consumption: fuelwood (22 EJ), other vegetal materials and residues (7 EJ) and biogasoline (2.3 EJ).
• The largest final consumers of bioenergy by type in 2023 were Asia for solid biofuels (17.5 EJ, about half of the world total), the Americas for liquid biofuels (2.6 EJ, close to 60 percent of the world total) and Europe for gaseous biofuels (0.1 EJ, nearly 60 percent of the world total).
• The largest bioenergy final consumers in 2023 were India (7.6 EJ), China (4.7 EJ), the United States of America (3.3 EJ), Brazil (2.0 EJ) and Ethiopia (1.4 EJ).