Kuwait - Total natural resources rents (% of GDP)

Total natural resources rents (% of GDP) in Kuwait was 42.66 as of 2019. Its highest value over the past 49 years was 73.47 in 1974, while its lowest value was 9.15 in 1991.

Definition: Total natural resources rents are the sum of oil rents, natural gas rents, coal rents (hard and soft), mineral rents, and forest rents.

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 41.00
1971 40.51
1972 46.37
1973 51.24
1974 73.47
1975 64.03
1976 65.54
1977 60.09
1978 61.27
1980 68.94
1981 47.31
1982 31.90
1983 43.87
1984 44.98
1985 38.88
1986 32.56
1987 39.92
1988 33.75
1989 48.03
1990 55.61
1991 9.15
1992 29.59
1993 40.66
1994 38.99
1995 39.34
1996 42.52
1997 38.86
1998 29.58
1999 35.07
2000 51.82
2001 44.21
2002 38.90
2003 40.83
2004 48.36
2005 56.01
2006 53.33
2007 49.27
2008 54.22
2009 40.25
2010 49.34
2011 58.98
2012 54.85
2013 52.96
2014 50.94
2015 37.06
2016 32.10
2017 36.60
2018 44.66
2019 42.66

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