Germany - Natural gas rents (% of GDP)

Natural gas rents (% of GDP) in Germany was 0.010 as of 2019. Its highest value over the past 49 years was 0.084 in 1980, while its lowest value was 0.004 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 0.004
1971 0.006
1972 0.007
1973 0.008
1974 0.034
1975 0.048
1976 0.047
1977 0.042
1978 0.042
1979 0.072
1980 0.084
1981 0.064
1982 0.020
1983 0.069
1984 0.072
1985 0.067
1986 0.033
1987 0.017
1988 0.015
1989 0.017
1990 0.020
1991 0.016
1992 0.010
1993 0.012
1994 0.010
1995 0.008
1996 0.012
1997 0.013
1998 0.005
1999 0.004
2000 0.025
2001 0.048
2002 0.035
2003 0.033
2004 0.024
2005 0.024
2006 0.042
2007 0.037
2008 0.047
2009 0.042
2010 0.028
2011 0.037
2012 0.037
2013 0.031
2014 0.020
2015 0.015
2016 0.008
2017 0.011
2018 0.013
2019 0.010

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