Spain - Mineral rents (% of GDP)

Mineral rents (% of GDP) in Spain was 0.021 as of 2019. Its highest value over the past 49 years was 0.142 in 1974, while its lowest value was 0.001 in 2009.

Definition: Mineral rents are the difference between the value of production for a stock of minerals at world prices and their total costs of production. Minerals included in the calculation are tin, gold, lead, zinc, iron, copper, nickel, silver, bauxite, and phosphate.

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 0.064
1971 0.046
1972 0.038
1973 0.122
1974 0.142
1975 0.023
1976 0.042
1977 0.030
1978 0.015
1979 0.041
1980 0.059
1981 0.027
1982 0.021
1983 0.024
1984 0.019
1985 0.007
1986 0.006
1987 0.011
1988 0.141
1989 0.134
1990 0.035
1991 0.012
1992 0.021
1993 0.016
1994 0.016
1995 0.013
1996 0.007
1997 0.010
1998 0.003
1999 0.004
2000 0.007
2001 0.002
2002 0.002
2003 0.001
2004 0.001
2005 0.002
2006 0.008
2007 0.014
2008 0.004
2009 0.001
2010 0.014
2011 0.021
2012 0.036
2013 0.023
2014 0.021
2015 0.014
2016 0.013
2017 0.026
2018 0.030
2019 0.021

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