Developing and emerging industrial economies contributed more than half of the global production of mining and utility products in 2017. These figures are presented in the World Statistics on Mining and Utilities 2018, a biennial publication of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), which presents global statistics on mining, quarrying and utility sectors comprising electricity, gas, steam, and air-conditioning as well as water supply, sewerage, and waste management.
The UNIDO report states that the growth potential of mineral products is generally diminishing due to the depletion of mineral resources; however, increasing consumption of utility products has driven the growth on other side – especially in developing countries. For this reason, the combined share of mining and utilities in global GDP has only marginally dropped from 6.8 percent in 2005 to 6.2 percent in 2017.
China tops the list of leading economies with the highest share in global value-added of mining and utilities followed by the United States, Saudi Arabia, Australia and the Russian Federation. The extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas is one of the most important mining activities supplying the essential minerals to meet the energy demand of businesses and households. These sectors account for more than 90.0 percent of total mining in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.
The per capita consumption of electricity, gas, and water is much higher in industrialized countries, however increasing exploitation of mineral resources to meet the growing demand of energy products from industry as a whole has driven higher growth of mining industry in developing countries.
Statistics presented in the World Statistics on Mining and Utilities 2018 are highly relevant to the Sustainable Development Goals, especially to those related to sustainable production and consumption, which aim at reducing the rate of domestic material consumption. However, rising production of minerals may pose certain challenges in achieving sustainable consumption.
UNIDO maintains a database on international industrial statistics covering mining, manufacturing, and utilities. Statistics on global manufacturing are presented in the International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics.
Original source: UNIDO
Published on 7 August 2018
