World - Forest rents (% of GDP)

Forest rents (% of GDP) in World was 0.139 as of 2019. Its highest value over the past 49 years was 0.380 in 1977, while its lowest value was 0.131 in 2005.

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 0.260
1971 0.253
1972 0.259
1973 0.370
1974 0.324
1975 0.351
1976 0.327
1977 0.380
1978 0.352
1979 0.369
1980 0.365
1981 0.289
1982 0.373
1983 0.293
1984 0.230
1985 0.205
1986 0.228
1987 0.224
1988 0.207
1989 0.215
1990 0.215
1991 0.192
1992 0.215
1993 0.216
1994 0.200
1995 0.223
1996 0.213
1997 0.197
1998 0.176
1999 0.146
2000 0.143
2001 0.136
2002 0.145
2003 0.167
2004 0.134
2005 0.131
2006 0.141
2007 0.167
2008 0.177
2009 0.170
2010 0.177
2011 0.173
2012 0.174
2013 0.174
2014 0.192
2015 0.184
2016 0.194
2017 0.200
2018 0.164
2019 0.139

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