OECD members - Forest rents (% of GDP)

Forest rents (% of GDP) in OECD members was 0.055 as of 2019. Its highest value over the past 49 years was 0.171 in 1973, while its lowest value was 0.045 in 2009.

Definition: Forest rents are roundwood harvest times the product of average prices and a region-specific rental rate.

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 0.134
1971 0.140
1972 0.130
1973 0.171
1974 0.161
1975 0.160
1976 0.155
1977 0.143
1978 0.148
1979 0.160
1980 0.149
1981 0.123
1982 0.138
1983 0.113
1984 0.100
1985 0.096
1986 0.094
1987 0.087
1988 0.086
1989 0.091
1990 0.096
1991 0.073
1992 0.071
1993 0.088
1994 0.078
1995 0.080
1996 0.078
1997 0.075
1998 0.062
1999 0.061
2000 0.061
2001 0.054
2002 0.054
2003 0.052
2004 0.048
2005 0.049
2006 0.051
2007 0.056
2008 0.051
2009 0.045
2010 0.053
2011 0.052
2012 0.049
2013 0.052
2014 0.055
2015 0.051
2016 0.055
2017 0.060
2018 0.057
2019 0.055

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