New economic indicator accounts for depletion of natural resources and damage to the environment

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New economic indicator accounts for depletion of natural resources and damage to the environment
Data Excerpts from a World Bank Report
Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com
September 18, 2005

In September 2005, the World Bank published a report, Where Is the Wealth of Nations?, that introduced a new measure of wealth that takes into account the depletion of natural resources and damage to the environment. These factors are neglected under current indicators used to guide development decisions, notably Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Below you will find the rankings for 118 countries. At the top of the list is Switzerland with wealth per capita of $648,241. At the bottom is Ethiopia at $1,965.

A related press release can be found here. Other related tables include:
Other related tables: Change in Wealth Per Capita | Genuine Savings Estimates by Country

All figures are from Where Is the Wealth of Nations?, a World Bank report. The figures are copyright the World Bank as is the explanatory text that follows. Further information, along with the full report in PDF form, is available at www.worldbank.org/sustainabledevelopment

World Bank 2005: Total wealth for selected countries of the world Sort by Country \| Wealth Rank (top) \| Wealth Rank (bottom)
Country	Population	Subsoil assets US$ per capita	Timber resources US$ per capita	Nontimber Forest Resources US$ per capita	Protected Areas US$ per capita	Cropland US$ per capita	Pastureland US$ per capita	Natural capital US$ per capita	Produced capital + urban land US$ per capita	Intangible capital US$ per capita	Total wealth US$ per capita
Switzerland	7180000	0	493	50	2195	809	2396	5943	99904	542394	648241
Denmark	5340000	4173	211	25	1377	2184	3775	11746	80181	483212	575138
Sweden	8869000	263	2434	908	1549	1120	1676	7950	58331	447143	513424
United States	282224000	7106	1341	238	1651	2752	1665	14752	79851	418009	512612
Germany	82210000	269	263	39	1113	1176	1586	4445	68678	423323	496447
Japan	126870000	28	38	56	364	710	316	1513	150258	341470	493241
Austria	8012000	485	829	144	2410	1298	2008	7174	73118	412789	493080
Norway	4491000	49839	573	586	1339	567	1925	54828	119650	299230	473708
France	58893000	87	307	77	1026	2747	2091	6335	57814	403874	468024
Belgium-Luxembourg	10690000	20	254	20	0	575	2161	3030	60561	388123	451714
Netherlands	15919000	2053	27	7	527	1035	3090	6739	62428	352222	421389
Finland	5172000	58	6115	1259	1090	843	2081	11445	61064	346838	419346
United Kingdom	58880000	4739	44	14	495	583	1291	7167	55239	346347	408753
Italy	57690000	361	0	51	543	2639	1083	4678	51943	316045	372666
Australia	19182000	11491	748	551	1421	4365	5590	24167	58179	288686	371031
Ireland	3813000	385	222	51	172	1583	8122	10534	46542	273414	330490
Canada	30770000	18566	4724	1264	5756	2829	1631	34771	54226	235982	324979
Israel	6289000	10	0	6	1350	1757	877	3999	44153	246570	294723
Spain	40500000	50	81	105	360	2806	971	4374	39531	217300	261205
Singapore	4018000	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	79011	173595	252607
New Zealand	3858000	3596	1648	611	11786	5824	19761	43226	36227	163481	242934
Greece	10560000	318	82	101	57	3424	573	4554	28973	203445	236972
Portugal	10130000	41	438	107	385	1724	934	3629	31011	172837	207477
Barbados	267000	988	0	0	0	190	210	1388	18168	127181	146737
Korea, Rep. of	47008000	33	0	30	441	1241	275	2020	31399	107864	141282
Argentina	35850000	3253	105	219	350	3632	2754	10312	19111	109809	139232
Antigua and Barbuda	72310	0	0	28	0	1003	468	1500	38796	91554	131849
Seychelles	81131	0	0	84	0	0	0	84	28836	96653	125572
Uruguay	3322000	0	0	88	22	3621	5549	9279	10787	98397	118463
St. Kitts and Nevis	44286	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	35711	64457	100167
Brazil	170100000	1708	609	724	402	1998	1311	6752	9643	70528	86922
Chile	15211000	5188	986	231	1095	2443	1001	10944	10688	56094	77726
Hungary	10024000	536	152	42	366	2721	1131	4947	15480	56645	77072
Estonia	1370000	384	1382	341	490	1114	2572	6283	18685	41802	66769
St. Lucia	155996	0	0	13	0	3394	108	3516	13594	49090	66199
Mexico	97966000	6075	199	128	176	1195	721	8493	18959	34420	61872
Costa Rica	3810000	2	629	117	657	5811	1310	8527	8343	44741	61611
Mauritius	1187000	0	0	3	0	577	62	642	11633	48010	60284
South Africa	44000000	1118	310	46	51	1238	637	3400	7270	48959	59629
Dominica	71530	0	..	146	0	5274	553	5973	15310	37802	59084
Panama	2854000	0	176	228	726	3256	664	5051	11018	41594	57663
Trinidad and Tobago	1289000	30279	42	46	112	444	54	30977	14485	12086	57549
Grenada	101400	0	0	0	0	572	67	640	16128	38544	55312
Belize	240000	0	344	1272	0	5201	133	6950	9710	36275	52935
St. Vincent	111992	0	0	12	0	2106	109	2228	10486	36518	49232
Turkey	67420000	190	64	34	86	2270	861	3504	8580	35774	47859
Jamaica	2580000	856	157	29	609	824	152	2627	10153	35016	47796
Latvia	2372000	0	1155	279	668	1506	1877	5485	12979	28734	47198
Suriname	425000	4451	293	1173	7626	2113	210	15866	5818	25444	47128
Malaysia	23270000	6922	438	188	161	1369	24	9103	13065	24520	46687
Venezuela	24170000	23302	0	464	1793	1086	581	27227	13627	4342	45196
Fiji	812000	77	0	227	0	1381	522	2208	4192	38480	44880
Colombia	42299000	3006	134	266	253	1911	978	6547	4872	33241	44660
Gabon	1258000	24656	1570	841	1	1480	37	28586	17797	-3215	43168
Botswana	1675000	246	172	1681	299	55	730	3183	8926	28483	40592
Peru	25939000	934	153	570	98	1480	341	3575	5562	29908	39046
Russian Federation	145555008	11777	292	1228	1317	1262	1342	17217	15593	5900	38709
Namibia	1894000	46	0	962	260	204	881	2352	5574	28981	36907
Tunisia	9564000	1610	27	12	8	1546	736	3939	6270	26328	36537
El Salvador	6209000	0	105	4	4	404	395	912	4109	31455	36476
Thailand	60728000	469	92	55	855	2370	96	3936	7624	24294	35854
Paraguay	5270000	0	882	1005	78	2193	1215	5372	4480	25747	35600
Ecuador	12420000	5205	335	193	1057	5263	1065	13117	2841	17788	33745
Dominican Republic	8353000	286	27	37	461	1980	386	3176	5723	24511	33410
Cape Verde	435000	0	0	44	0	585	82	711	3902	28329	32942
Jordan	4887000	9	16	4	89	580	234	931	5875	24740	31546
Guatemala	11385000	301	517	57	181	1697	218	2971	3098	24411	30480
Romania	22435000	1222	290	65	175	1602	1154	4508	8495	16110	29113
Swaziland	1045000	0	314	113	0	372	467	1267	3628	22844	27739
Bulgaria	8170000	244	126	102	217	1650	1108	3448	5303	16505	25256
Iran	63664000	11370	0	26	109	1989	611	14105	3336	6581	24023
Morocco	28705000	106	22	24	7	993	453	1604	3435	17926	22965
Egypt	63976000	1544	0	0	0	1705	0	3249	3897	14734	21879
Philippines	76627000	30	90	17	59	1308	45	1549	2673	15129	19351
Algeria	30385000	11670	68	16	161	859	426	13200	8709	-3418	18491
Bolivia	8428000	934	100	1426	232	1550	541	4783	2110	11248	18141
Albania	3113000	300	38	72	247	1660	1574	3892	1745	11675	17312
Guyana	759000	1147	680	2886	12	5324	252	10301	3333	2176	15810
Lesotho	1744000	0	4	2	1	239	269	515	3263	11699	15477
Sri Lanka	18467000	0	58	24	166	485	84	817	2710	11204	14731
Cote d'Ivoire	15827000	2	367	102	11	2568	72	3121	997	10125	14243
Indonesia	206264992	1549	346	115	167	1245	50	3472	2382	8015	13869
Nicaragua	5071000	9	475	146	184	867	410	2092	1719	9403	13214
Georgia	5262000	66	0	129	66	737	802	1799	595	10642	13036
Honduras	6457000	24	727	189	282	1189	595	3005	3064	5497	11567
Cameroon	15117000	914	348	357	187	2748	179	4733	1749	4271	10753
Syrian Arab Rep.	16189000	6734	0	6	0	1255	730	8725	3292	-1598	10419
Ghana	18912080	65	290	76	7	855	43	1336	686	8343	10365
Senegal	9530000	4	238	147	78	608	196	1272	975	7920	10167
Zimbabwe	12650000	301	211	341	70	350	258	1531	1377	6704	9612
China	1262644992	511	106	29	27	1404	146	2223	2956	4208	9387
Moldova	4278000	0	3	17	52	2435	752	3260	4338	1173	8771
Haiti	7959000	0	8	3	3	668	112	793	601	6840	8235
Comoros	558000	0	17	3	0	872	75	967	1270	5792	8030
Mauritania	2508159	1311	14	29	21	1128	480	2982	1038	3938	7959
Benin	6222000	15	321	96	207	603	90	1333	771	5791	7895
Pakistan	138080000	265	7	4	94	549	448	1368	975	5529	7871
Bhutan	805000	0	1888	849	1291	589	328	4945	2622	180	7747
Togo	4562000	7	163	25	21	649	50	915	800	5394	7109
India	1015923008	201	59	14	122	1340	192	1928	1154	3738	6820
Kenya	30092000	1	235	129	113	361	529	1368	868	4374	6609
Zambia	9886000	134	276	716	78	477	98	1779	694	4091	6564
Gambia, The	1312000	0	0	83	4	345	81	514	672	5179	6365
Bangladesh	131050000	83	4	2	9	810	52	961	817	4221	6000
Rwanda	7709000	2	81	9	27	1849	98	2066	549	3055	5670
Mali	10840000	0	121	276	44	1420	295	2157	621	2463	5241
Malawi	10311000	0	184	56	26	474	45	785	542	3873	5200
Burkina Faso	11274000	0	239	142	100	547	191	1219	821	3047	5087
Madagascar	15523000	0	174	171	36	955	345	1681	395	2944	5020
Chad	7861000	0	311	366	80	787	316	1861	289	2307	4458
Mozambique	17691000	0	340	392	9	261	57	1059	478	2695	4232
Guinea-Bissau	1367000	0	195	362	0	1180	121	1858	549	1566	3974
Nepal	23043000	0	233	38	81	767	111	1229	609	1964	3802
Niger	10742000	1	9	28	152	1598	187	1975	286	1434	3695
Congo, Rep. of	3447000	7536	0	1450	3	329	13	9330	6343	-12158	3516
Burundi	6807000	4	23	3	7	1130	44	1210	206	1443	2859
Nigeria	126910000	2639	270	24	6	1022	78	4040	667	-1959	2748
Ethiopia	64298000	0	63	16	167	353	197	796	177	992	1965

Column headers. What they mean.

The figures are copyright the World Bank. Further information, along with the full report in PDF form, is available at www.worldbank.org/sustainabledevelopment

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