Why India Just Suffered The World’s Biggest Blackout

India endured the world's largest power failure today (July 31), with a blackout that affected 700 million people, including the nation's capital of New Delhi. Trains and subway systems stopped, while private businesses and hospitals geared up their generators, the New York Times reported. Today's blackout followed another large outage yesterday, which affected 350 million people.

Although record-setting in size, the blackout wasn't entirely unexpected. India is chronically short on power, and Indian cities regularly experience temporary power cuts, as many outlets reported. Today's and yesterday's outages underscore longer-term questions about how India can continue to supply its citizens' and businesses' growing demand for electricity.

Also in question is how India will deliver electricity to all its residents in the future. Only nine of India's 28 states have full access to electricity, according to the BBC. If the Indian power structure can't keep up with demand, the situation will threaten India's growth and stability, according to the National Bureau of Asian Research.

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