China Continues to Dominate Global Coal Consumption

This chart courtesy of Visual Capitalist ranks the world’s largest coal consumers using data from the Statistical Review of World Energy 2025, highlighting how demand is distributed across major economies.

China consumes 4,780 million tonnes of coal annually, over half the global total, reflecting its role as the world’s largest industrial producer and its continued reliance on coal for electricity generation despite rapid growth in renewables.

Together, the top six countries account for 87% of global coal consumption, underscoring how demand is concentrated in a small number of large economies.

·      China accounts for 51.7% of global coal consumption, using more than all other countries combined.
·      The top six countries make up 87% of global demand.
·      India is a distant second at 11.7%, followed by Indonesia (9.0%).
·      The U.S. and Australia each contribute about 5% of global demand.