Least developed countries: UN classification | Total natural resources rents (% of GDP)

Total natural resources rents are the sum of oil rents, natural gas rents, coal rents (hard and soft), mineral rents, and forest rents. 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. 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 price of units of specific commodities and subtracting estimates of average unit costs of extraction or harvesting costs. 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).
Publisher
The World Bank
Origin
Least developed countries: UN classification
Records
63
Source
Least developed countries: UN classification | Total natural resources rents (% of GDP)
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970 4.85424893
1971 3.59948348
1972 4.04546906
1973 6.72744413
1974 6.25648604
1975 4.0402191
1976 4.74715059
1977 6.74290283
1978 5.46440676
1979 5.65825491
1980 7.14079712
1981 5.81304899
1982 7.18578789
1983 6.0454523
1984 6.30459684
1985 5.26744158
1986 5.86215401
1987 6.18371953
1988 6.7456205
1989 7.37426238
1990 9.21504546
1991 6.24678933
1992 9.18024045
1993 9.11776529
1994 13.91613659
1995 13.01832594
1996 10.97331247
1997 9.79398922
1998 8.61558411
1999 7.39935852
2000 9.61645184
2001 8.73970133
2002 9.33893486
2003 10.97122931
2004 11.27866542
2005 13.80318285
2006 14.84322139
2007 15.99120004
2008 18.94789065
2009 11.87626081
2010 13.38554231
2011 15.22152375
2012 12.64924447
2013 11.22234464
2014 9.64995379
2015 6.89083101
2016 6.57905536
2017 7.11960331
2018 6.98193233
2019 5.75712368
2020 4.96396739
2021 8.20011664
2022

Least developed countries: UN classification | Total natural resources rents (% of GDP)

Total natural resources rents are the sum of oil rents, natural gas rents, coal rents (hard and soft), mineral rents, and forest rents. 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. 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 price of units of specific commodities and subtracting estimates of average unit costs of extraction or harvesting costs. 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).
Publisher
The World Bank
Origin
Least developed countries: UN classification
Records
63
Source