North America - Forest rents (% of GDP)

Forest rents (% of GDP) in North America was 0.043 as of 2019. Its highest value over the past 49 years was 0.196 in 1979, while its lowest value was 0.037 in 2018.

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 0.117
1971 0.135
1972 0.127
1973 0.171
1974 0.158
1975 0.168
1976 0.160
1977 0.163
1978 0.182
1979 0.196
1980 0.163
1981 0.126
1982 0.132
1983 0.114
1984 0.108
1985 0.094
1986 0.112
1987 0.118
1988 0.120
1989 0.121
1990 0.131
1991 0.107
1992 0.109
1993 0.148
1994 0.128
1995 0.130
1996 0.119
1997 0.112
1998 0.081
1999 0.086
2000 0.081
2001 0.066
2002 0.064
2003 0.062
2004 0.068
2005 0.064
2006 0.064
2007 0.065
2008 0.051
2009 0.039
2010 0.047
2011 0.052
2012 0.045
2013 0.048
2014 0.047
2015 0.039
2016 0.040
2017 0.045
2018 0.037
2019 0.043

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