World's Biggest Blackouts: Top 7 Massive Power Outages in History

India, 2012

This is considered the largest blackout in history, affecting around 700 million people. The blackout occurred over two days, July 30 and 31, 2012, due to excessive power demand and weak inter-regional power transmission corridors.

Northeast United States and Canada, 2003

Known as the Northeast Blackout of 2003, it affected 50 million people across the U.S. and Canada. It was caused by a high-voltage power line in Ohio brushing against overgrown trees, leading to a cascade of failures.

Southern Brazil, 1999

On March 11, 1999, a lightning strike caused a chain reaction that led to a blackout affecting approximately 97 million people. The Itaipu power plant, the largest in the world at the time, was also shut down.

Italy, 2003

On September 28, 2003, almost the entire Italian population (57 million people) experienced a blackout due to a fault in the Swiss power system. The outage lasted up to 12 hours.

Indonesia, 2005

On August 18, 2005, a failure in a transmission line led to a massive blackout affecting 100 million people in Java and Bali. The outage lasted for about 11 hours and caused significant disruption.

New York City, 1977

On July 13-14, 1977, a lightning strike led to a 25-hour blackout in New York City, affecting 9 million people. The blackout caused widespread looting and arson, leading to significant damage and chaos.

Ontario and Northeast United States, 1965

The Great Northeast Blackout of 1965 affected over 30 million people across parts of Ontario, Canada, and the northeastern United States. It was caused by the failure of a transmission line near Ontario.