World - Natural gas rents (% of GDP)

Natural gas rents (% of GDP) in World was 0.222 as of 2019. Its highest value over the past 49 years was 0.690 in 1979, while its lowest value was 0.007 in 1970.

Definition: Natural gas rents are the difference between the value of natural gas production at world prices and total costs of production.

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 0.007
1971 0.011
1972 0.023
1973 0.052
1974 0.398
1975 0.347
1976 0.347
1977 0.330
1978 0.287
1979 0.690
1980 0.652
1981 0.398
1982 0.085
1983 0.275
1984 0.300
1985 0.261
1986 0.108
1987 0.153
1988 0.152
1989 0.160
1990 0.188
1991 0.155
1992 0.142
1993 0.183
1994 0.144
1995 0.108
1996 0.172
1997 0.169
1998 0.110
1999 0.131
2000 0.322
2001 0.402
2002 0.267
2003 0.326
2004 0.361
2005 0.389
2006 0.411
2007 0.371
2008 0.496
2009 0.323
2010 0.247
2011 0.355
2012 0.370
2013 0.354
2014 0.295
2015 0.239
2016 0.145
2017 0.186
2018 0.289
2019 0.222

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