Italy - Natural gas rents (% of GDP)

Natural gas rents (% of GDP) in Italy was 0.016 as of 2019. Its highest value over the past 49 years was 0.108 in 1980, while its lowest value was 0.007 in 1999.

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 0.008
1971 0.010
1972 0.012
1973 0.013
1974 0.053
1975 0.075
1976 0.082
1977 0.065
1978 0.064
1979 0.102
1980 0.108
1981 0.085
1982 0.030
1983 0.080
1984 0.086
1985 0.085
1986 0.057
1987 0.027
1988 0.025
1989 0.026
1990 0.033
1991 0.026
1992 0.018
1993 0.027
1994 0.023
1995 0.021
1996 0.024
1997 0.025
1998 0.010
1999 0.007
2000 0.039
2001 0.066
2002 0.045
2003 0.037
2004 0.027
2005 0.025
2006 0.042
2007 0.035
2008 0.047
2009 0.039
2010 0.033
2011 0.047
2012 0.055
2013 0.046
2014 0.031
2015 0.023
2016 0.012
2017 0.017
2018 0.024
2019 0.016

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