Australia - Forest rents (% of GDP)

Forest rents (% of GDP) in Australia was 0.153 as of 2019. Its highest value over the past 49 years was 0.446 in 1980, while its lowest value was 0.084 in 2013.

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 0.204
1971 0.248
1972 0.277
1973 0.371
1974 0.247
1975 0.328
1976 0.267
1977 0.297
1978 0.299
1979 0.380
1980 0.446
1981 0.272
1982 0.312
1983 0.286
1984 0.198
1985 0.253
1986 0.282
1987 0.295
1988 0.234
1989 0.196
1990 0.193
1991 0.185
1992 0.188
1993 0.235
1994 0.237
1995 0.251
1996 0.225
1997 0.175
1998 0.189
1999 0.161
2000 0.178
2001 0.198
2002 0.191
2003 0.211
2004 0.117
2005 0.129
2006 0.149
2007 0.172
2008 0.174
2009 0.159
2010 0.132
2011 0.111
2012 0.090
2013 0.084
2014 0.118
2015 0.116
2016 0.147
2017 0.192
2018 0.182
2019 0.153

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