World - Mineral rents (% of GDP)

Mineral rents (% of GDP) in World was 0.182 as of 2019. Its highest value over the past 49 years was 0.731 in 2011, while its lowest value was 0.061 in 2003.

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 0.285
1971 0.197
1972 0.179
1973 0.299
1974 0.417
1975 0.235
1976 0.231
1977 0.229
1978 0.135
1979 0.211
1980 0.298
1981 0.204
1982 0.169
1983 0.181
1984 0.129
1985 0.141
1986 0.099
1987 0.114
1988 0.248
1989 0.203
1990 0.143
1991 0.107
1992 0.122
1993 0.088
1994 0.099
1995 0.101
1996 0.087
1997 0.079
1998 0.078
1999 0.070
2000 0.074
2001 0.062
2002 0.063
2003 0.061
2004 0.106
2005 0.198
2006 0.352
2007 0.530
2008 0.560
2009 0.315
2010 0.610
2011 0.731
2012 0.444
2013 0.399
2014 0.275
2015 0.175
2016 0.197
2017 0.249
2018 0.231
2019 0.182

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