Namibia - Forest rents (% of GDP)

Forest rents (% of GDP) in Namibia was 0.498 as of 2019. Its highest value over the past 39 years was 0.974 in 2016, while its lowest value was 0.309 in 1999.

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
1980 0.391
1981 0.386
1982 0.613
1983 0.364
1984 0.400
1985 0.344
1986 0.509
1987 0.387
1988 0.403
1989 0.405
1990 0.449
1991 0.425
1992 0.379
1993 0.323
1994 0.353
1995 0.511
1996 0.523
1997 0.481
1998 0.536
1999 0.309
2000 0.365
2001 0.391
2002 0.491
2003 0.594
2004 0.482
2005 0.432
2006 0.377
2007 0.549
2008 0.739
2009 0.758
2010 0.495
2011 0.493
2012 0.554
2013 0.610
2014 0.698
2015 0.877
2016 0.974
2017 0.790
2018 0.457
2019 0.498

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