Arab World - Forest rents (% of GDP)

Forest rents (% of GDP) in Arab World was 0.063 as of 2019. Its highest value over the past 49 years was 0.215 in 1970, while its lowest value was 0.034 in 2007.

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 0.215
1971 0.186
1972 0.164
1973 0.184
1974 0.112
1975 0.119
1976 0.078
1977 0.116
1978 0.126
1979 0.087
1980 0.078
1981 0.072
1982 0.155
1983 0.113
1984 0.111
1985 0.053
1986 0.123
1987 0.116
1988 0.124
1989 0.122
1990 0.090
1991 0.108
1992 0.087
1993 0.066
1994 0.066
1995 0.092
1996 0.087
1997 0.080
1998 0.112
1999 0.057
2000 0.041
2001 0.048
2002 0.051
2003 0.063
2004 0.049
2005 0.039
2006 0.040
2007 0.034
2008 0.050
2009 0.057
2010 0.057
2011 0.087
2012 0.081
2013 0.075
2014 0.104
2015 0.111
2016 0.106
2017 0.122
2018 0.065
2019 0.063

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