European Union - Natural gas rents (% of GDP)

Natural gas rents (% of GDP) in European Union was 0.038 as of 2019. Its highest value over the past 49 years was 0.165 in 1980, while its lowest value was 0.007 in 1970.

Definition: Natural gas rents are the difference between the value of natural gas production at world prices and total costs of production.

Source: Estimates based on sources and methods described in "The Changing Wealth of Nations: Measuring Sustainable Development in the New Millennium" (World Bank, 2011).

See also:

Year Value
1970 0.007
1971 0.010
1972 0.013
1973 0.015
1974 0.068
1975 0.102
1976 0.102
1977 0.087
1978 0.082
1979 0.141
1980 0.165
1981 0.115
1982 0.036
1983 0.122
1984 0.128
1985 0.126
1986 0.071
1987 0.044
1988 0.038
1989 0.041
1990 0.050
1991 0.044
1992 0.027
1993 0.035
1994 0.026
1995 0.023
1996 0.031
1997 0.031
1998 0.012
1999 0.009
2000 0.051
2001 0.095
2002 0.067
2003 0.058
2004 0.048
2005 0.045
2006 0.079
2007 0.070
2008 0.102
2009 0.090
2010 0.076
2011 0.100
2012 0.110
2013 0.101
2014 0.063
2015 0.042
2016 0.025
2017 0.034
2018 0.042
2019 0.038

Development Relevance: Accounting for the contribution of natural resources to economic output is important in building an analytical framework for sustainable development. In some countries earnings from natural resources, especially from fossil fuels and minerals, account for a sizable share of GDP, and much of these earnings come in the form of economic rents - revenues above the cost of extracting the resources. Natural resources give rise to economic rents because they are not produced. For produced goods and services competitive forces expand supply until economic profits are driven to zero, but natural resources in fixed supply often command returns well in excess of their cost of production. Rents from nonrenewable resources - fossil fuels and minerals - as well as rents from overharvesting of forests indicate the liquidation of a country's capital stock. When countries use such rents to support current consumption rather than to invest in new capital to replace what is being used up, they are, in effect, borrowing against their future.

Limitations and Exceptions: This definition of economic rent differs from that used in the System of National Accounts, where rents are a form of property income, consisting of payments to landowners by a tenant for the use of the land or payments to the owners of subsoil assets by institutional units permitting them to extract subsoil deposits.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: The estimates of natural resources rents are calculated as the difference between the price of a commodity and the average cost of producing it. This is done by estimating the world price of units of specific commodities and subtracting estimates of average unit costs of extraction or harvesting costs (including a normal return on capital). These unit rents are then multiplied by the physical quantities countries extract or harvest to determine the rents for each commodity as a share of gross domestic product (GDP).

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Environment Indicators

Sub-Topic: Natural resources contribution to GDP