With the continuous growth of global energy demand and increasing environmental concerns, electricity, as a critical energy carrier, has become increasingly vital in global economic and social development. This study systematically analyzed the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics and efficiency evolution of the top 50 global electricity-exporting countries from 2014 to 2023 using the DEA-BCC model and Malmquist index method. Key findings include: (1) Electricity exports exhibited significant regional agglomeration, with Europe maintaining dominance through its mature transnational grid systems, while China emerged as Asia’s core driver, boosting regional export volumes. (2) Efficiency measurements revealed a decline in the number of DEA-strongly efficient countries (from 4 to 3) and an increase in weakly efficient countries (to 6), primarily due to insufficient scale efficiency. Major exporters such as the U.S. and Italy remained inefficient owing to suboptimal resource allocation. (3) Total factor productivity (TFP) showed an average annual growth of 7.7%, driven by technological progress, but scale efficiency stagnated (index: 0.899), indicating room for scaling optimization.

Electricity, Spatiotemporal distribution, Efficiency, DEA-BCC, Malmquist index