European Union - Oil rents (% of GDP)

Oil rents (% of GDP) in European Union was 0.035 as of 2019. Its highest value over the past 49 years was 0.087 in 2011, while its lowest value was 0.002 in 1970.

Definition: Oil rents are the difference between the value of crude oil 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 0.002
1971 0.002
1972 0.003
1973 0.005
1974 0.039
1975 0.030
1976 0.031
1977 0.028
1978 0.023
1979 0.046
1980 0.053
1981 0.048
1982 0.033
1983 0.060
1984 0.066
1985 0.073
1986 0.023
1987 0.048
1988 0.032
1989 0.049
1990 0.052
1991 0.024
1992 0.023
1993 0.024
1994 0.023
1995 0.022
1996 0.031
1997 0.027
1998 0.007
1999 0.024
2000 0.064
2001 0.046
2002 0.048
2003 0.046
2004 0.055
2005 0.074
2006 0.077
2007 0.070
2008 0.083
2009 0.045
2010 0.064
2011 0.087
2012 0.086
2013 0.072
2014 0.062
2015 0.029
2016 0.020
2017 0.029
2018 0.041
2019 0.035

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