Other small states - Total natural resources rents (% of GDP)

Total natural resources rents (% of GDP) in Other small states was 11.62 as of 2019. Its highest value over the past 49 years was 46.38 in 1974, while its lowest value was 1.19 in 1979.

Definition: Total natural resources rents are the sum of oil rents, natural gas rents, coal rents (hard and soft), mineral rents, and forest rents.

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 3.62
1971 15.30
1972 17.53
1973 21.76
1974 46.38
1975 37.42
1976 32.80
1977 30.87
1978 29.55
1979 1.19
1980 32.64
1981 21.56
1982 14.67
1983 16.60
1984 19.86
1985 17.81
1986 9.67
1987 10.37
1988 11.21
1989 14.42
1990 15.73
1991 9.19
1992 8.96
1993 9.35
1994 8.25
1995 8.13
1996 10.12
1997 9.51
1998 6.52
1999 9.02
2000 14.15
2001 11.35
2002 10.16
2003 10.34
2004 12.16
2005 16.15
2006 18.84
2007 17.76
2008 20.44
2009 15.15
2010 18.57
2011 23.74
2012 23.06
2013 21.27
2014 18.54
2015 11.70
2016 8.66
2017 10.38
2018 12.77
2019 11.62

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