Euro area - Natural gas rents (% of GDP)

Natural gas rents (% of GDP) in Euro area was 0.033 as of 2018. Its highest value over the past 48 years was 0.178 in 1980, 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 0.014
1973 0.016
1974 0.074
1975 0.111
1976 0.112
1977 0.094
1978 0.088
1979 0.151
1980 0.178
1981 0.125
1982 0.039
1983 0.131
1984 0.138
1985 0.135
1986 0.075
1987 0.036
1988 0.031
1989 0.034
1990 0.042
1991 0.036
1992 0.023
1993 0.029
1994 0.023
1995 0.020
1996 0.027
1997 0.027
1998 0.010
1999 0.008
2000 0.043
2001 0.081
2002 0.057
2003 0.049
2004 0.041
2005 0.037
2006 0.066
2007 0.059
2008 0.088
2009 0.077
2010 0.067
2011 0.089
2012 0.098
2013 0.092
2014 0.055
2015 0.035
2016 0.021
2017 0.028
2018 0.033

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