Resource productivity in the European Union increased by almost a third (27.8%) between 2002 and 2014, while in Romania it decreased by 8.3% during this period.

The country ranked second to last in the EU for resource productivity in 2014, according to EU’s statistical office Eurostat.

Resource productivity quantifies the relation between economic activity (GDP) and the consumption of natural resources (domestic material consumption - DMC) and sheds light on how efficiently natural resources are used.

At EU level, the resource productivity amounted to EUR 1.95 per kilo last year, whereas it reached only EUR 0.32 per kilo in Romania. Only Bulgaria ranked lower than Romania, with EUR 0.30 per kilo. Luxembourg saw the highest resource productivity with EUR 3.94 per kilo.

Compared to 2012, most member states saw increases in their resource productivity in 2014, except for Estonia, Malta and Romania.

The resource productivity is influenced by the drop in the quantity of raw material used in an economy. The member states which recorded the highest growth in resource productivity are the ones where the quantity of used raw materials saw the highest drops. In Romania, the quantity of used raw materials went up by 62.3% between 2012 and 2014.

editor@romania-insider.com