Netherlands, Britain top EU's resource productivity list in 2015

The Netherlands and Britain had the highest resource productivity in the 28-member European Union (EU) last year, Eurostat, the bloc's statistical office said on Thursday.

Eurostat said the EU has been endeavoring to maintain economic growth while decreasing material consumption in recent years. In the EU, resource productivity increased to 2 euros per kilogram in 2015 from 1.48 euros per kilogram in 2000, an increase of 35.4 percent in real terms.

According to the new index called domestic material consumption (DMC), 13.2 tonnes of crops, minerals and metals were consumed per inhabitant in the EU last year, compared with 15.5 tonnes in 2000. This reduction is equivalent to savings of 2.3 tonnes per person, meaning that in 2015 more than 6 kilograms less was consumed per person and per day than in 2000.

However, the level of resource productivity varies widely between the EU member states. In EU countries, the highest resource productivity in 2015 was recorded in the Netherlands and Britain, both 3.44 euros per kilogram, ahead of Luxembourg and Italy.

At the opposite end of the scale, seven EU countries registered resource productivity lower than 1 euro per kilogram, among which Bulgaria had the lowest at 0.28 euro per kilogram.

According to Eurostat, Spain and Cyprus had the largest increase in resource productivity in the EU between 2000 and 2015 while resource productivity increased by 120.3 percent.

The countries recording the highest increases in resource productivity were generally also those where domestic material consumption decreased the most. Eurostat explains that this was particularly the case for Italy, Cyprus and Spain where DMC almost halved between 2000 and 2015.

In contrast, decreases were recorded in Romania, Estonia and Malta. Enditem