The 9 Countries With The Most Air Conditioning

The need for air conditioning has been driven home by record temperatures in Europe which have killed at least 10,000 people. Scientists say that this will be more and more frequent as global warming creates “heat domes” across the world, and particularly in the US, EU, and UK. Throughout these parts of the world, extreme heat will become more common.

Part of the reason air conditioning is rare in the UK and much of Europe is a cost/benefit analysis. According to The New York Times, “While a handful of days each summer are typically unpleasant, many Britons will say there simply aren’t enough difficult days and nights in the usually mild climate to make air-conditioning a worthy investment.”

As blistering heat hits most of Europe and the UK, among the nine countries that have the most air conditioning units, not a single one is in the region, either on a raw count, or per capita basis. And it may take years for that to change because of AC supply, and the difficulty of putting central AC into very old buildings. 

Climatecrisis247 looked at the nine countries in the world that have the most air conditioning units on a unit total basis. We then looked at the figure per 1,000 people. Nations which have extremely hot weather, particularly for a long period, made the list. So did relatively affluent nations where people and businesses can afford it. 

To create the lists we looked at data from the World Population “Air Conditioning Usage by Country 2026,” the IEA’s The Future of Cooling: Opportunities for energy-efficient air conditioning,” and FIXR’s “The Use of AC Across the World: Putting America’s Dependence Into Perspective.”

The count of air conditioning units by country can be misleading. China has the most air conditioners in the world at 569 million. However, on a per thousand basis it has 404 per 1,000 people in part because its population is 1.4 billion people. The US, with a much more affluent population ranks second in units at 374 million units which is 1,094 units per 1,000 people. Third on the list Japan has a raw count of 148 million. Once again, its affluence affects the per thousand number which is 1,209. 

At the far end of the spectrum, some of the nations with the world’s hottest climates have a modest number of air conditioners.  India has a population of 1.4 billion. It has 27 million air conditioners, which is 19 per 1,000 people. New Delhi, India’s largest city, often posts temperatures above 100 degrees F and occasionally above 110. The city’s population is estimated to be over 30 million for the metro area which makes it among the five largest in the world. 

Two things are likely to happen that will limit the spread of AC. One is the constitution of buildings in Europe. Another is the poverty of nations which often have extremely high temperatures. 

Rank	Country	AC Units (millions)	Per 1,000 people
1	China	569	~404
2	United States	374	~1,094
3	Japan	148	~1,201
4	South Korea	59	~1,141
5	India	27	~19
5 (tie)	Brazil	27	~127
7	Mexico	16	~123
8	Indonesia	12	~43
9	South Africa	3	~48