Human development, as measured by health, income, and education, is closely linked with access to energy. This chapter describes the state and trends of global energy and electricity consumption with a particular focus on Sub-Saharan Africa and developing countries. Connection to the power grid is a desirable situation, but unfortunately, over half a billion people do not have access to electricity. Different off-grid electrification approaches are described. These include grid extension, metro-grids, mini-grids, mesh- and swarm-grids, energy kiosks, solar home systems, and solar lanterns. Concepts of energy justice and energy equity are introduced.