IDA only - Coal rents (% of GDP)

Coal rents (% of GDP) in IDA only was 0.062 as of 2019. Its highest value over the past 48 years was 0.080 in 2017, while its lowest value was 0.001 in 1999.

Definition: Coal rents are the difference between the value of both hard and soft coal production at world prices and their 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
1971 0.012
1972 0.016
1973 0.016
1974 0.018
1975 0.030
1976 0.031
1977 0.027
1978 0.018
1979 0.014
1980 0.017
1981 0.022
1982 0.024
1983 0.014
1984 0.012
1985 0.013
1986 0.009
1987 0.005
1988 0.008
1989 0.008
1990 0.016
1991 0.012
1992 0.009
1993 0.005
1994 0.003
1995 0.004
1996 0.003
1997 0.002
1998 0.002
1999 0.001
2000 0.002
2001 0.005
2002 0.002
2003 0.002
2004 0.009
2005 0.007
2006 0.007
2007 0.012
2008 0.062
2009 0.024
2010 0.040
2011 0.062
2012 0.068
2013 0.046
2014 0.041
2015 0.032
2016 0.036
2017 0.080
2018 0.078
2019 0.062

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