The FINANCIAL -- Resource productivity quantifies the relationship between the size of the economy and the use of natural resources. The value of resource productivity will increase if the economy, measured by GDP, is growing at a faster rate than the consumption of raw materials, measured by domestic material consumption.
In 2017, resource productivity in the European Union (EU) increased to 2.04 €/kg, which is 39% above its value of 1.47 €/kg in 2000 and 0.6% above the level in 2016.
The financial and economic crisis between 2008 and 2009 had a clear influence on the trajectory of the EU's resource productivity. After moderate growth in the pre-crisis era, resource productivity experienced a marked increase during the crisis due to pronounced falls in domestic material consumption. The crisis affected the material-intensive industries of manufacturing and construction more than the rest of the economy, for example the services industries.
Resource productivity highest in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom
The level of resource productivity varies widely between the EU Member States. It depends on a country's natural resources, the diversity of its industrial activities, the role played by its services sector and its construction activities, the scale and patterns of its consumption and its various energy sources.
Across Member States in 2017, the highest resource productivity values (in terms of purchasing power standard per kilogram) were recorded in the Netherlands (3.96), the United Kingdom (3.56), Italy (3.38) and Spain (3.16). At the opposite end of the scale, four Member States registered resource productivity below 1.00 - Bulgaria (0.71), Romania (0.75), Estonia (0.78) and Latvia (0.88).