Chilling Prospects 2025: refrigeration remains inaccessible for over one billion people

Since 2018, Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) has been publishing the Chilling Prospects report, which assesses gaps in access to refrigeration.

 

The 2025 Chilling Prospects analysis focuses on populations at high risk due to inadequate access to refrigeration for thermal comfort and safety, food preservation, and the storage of medical products. This group includes both rural and urban poor populations.

The report also examines medium-risk populations – who are ready to purchase refrigeration solutions but have limited access to options that are both sustainable and affordable (lower-middle-income group). Lastly, it covers low-risk populations, who are typically able to access efficient refrigeration solutions (middle-income group).

 

Based on data and evidence collected from 77 countries, the 2025 Chilling Prospects analysis reveals that just over 1 billion people are at high risk due to a lack of access to essential refrigeration solutions ^[1]. This includes more than 309 million people among the rural poor and 695 million people among the urban poor.

 

In 2023, a staggering 1.12 billion people among the rural and urban poor were found to be at high risk, despite a significant decline from the year before (1.14 billion in 2022) ^[2].

 

By 2030, the global high-risk population is projected to increase by 43.3 million to 1.05 billion, according to SEforALL’s 2025 Chilling Prospects report. This trend is primarily driven by a 7% rise in the urban poor (an additional 48.5 million), while the rural poor population is expected to decline slightly to 304.1 million, signalling a shift in vulnerability from rural to urban areas.

 

Regional data show that sub-Saharan Africa continues to have the largest number of people at high risk globally – a trend that may be sustained through 2030, driven by rapid population growth, persisting gaps in electricity access, and heat exposure.

 

In Central and Southern Asia, high-risk populations are gradually declining, particularly in rural areas. However, most are moving into the medium-risk group, highlighting the need for actions to ensure access to sustainable and efficient refrigeration solutions.

 

 

Sources

[1] Chilling Prospects: Tracking Sustainable Cooling for All 2025. https://www.seforall.org/data-stories/chilling-prospects-2025

[2] https://iifiir.org/en/news/addressing-gender-and-regional-disparities-in-access-to-cooling