IBRD only - Natural gas rents (% of GDP)

Natural gas rents (% of GDP) in IBRD only was 0.363 as of 2019. Its highest value over the past 49 years was 0.839 in 2008, while its lowest value was 0.007 in 1972.

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 0.009
1971 0.009
1972 0.007
1973 0.008
1974 0.019
1975 0.054
1976 0.056
1977 0.054
1978 0.068
1979 0.160
1980 0.173
1981 0.089
1982 0.028
1983 0.122
1984 0.126
1985 0.139
1986 0.158
1987 0.207
1988 0.433
1989 0.464
1990 0.606
1991 0.537
1992 0.353
1993 0.372
1994 0.287
1995 0.263
1996 0.307
1997 0.295
1998 0.175
1999 0.187
2000 0.512
2001 0.769
2002 0.641
2003 0.659
2004 0.563
2005 0.563
2006 0.778
2007 0.696
2008 0.839
2009 0.737
2010 0.530
2011 0.711
2012 0.703
2013 0.653
2014 0.526
2015 0.442
2016 0.272
2017 0.342
2018 0.514
2019 0.363

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