Mapped: Carbon Emissions Per Capita, by Country

Pallavi Rao
2024-10-22 09:31:00
www.visualcapitalist.com

Consumption-Based Carbon Emissions Per Capita, by Country

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

This map visualizes the countries above (red) or below (blue) the global average for per-capita consumption-based emissions, which is 4.7 tCO₂. Data is sourced from the Global Carbon Budget, accessed via Our World in Data, as of 2021.

The idea behind this map is to compare how the variance in consumption patterns can change how much each country’s average lifestyle affects the environment.

From the source: Consumption-based emissions attribute the emissions generated in the production of goods and services according to where they were consumed, rather than where they were produced.

What This Per Capita Emissions Map Tell Us

The map highlights the disparity between the Global North (North America, Europe, Oceania) and Global South (South America, Africa, Asia).

First used in the 1980s, these informal terms differentiate between, industrialized, economically developed, and wealthier nations, mostly located in the Northern Hemisphere, and the less-developed countries mostly in the Southern Hemisphere.

It’s since been adopted into climate discourse to highlight the divide in environmental responsibilities: the Global North contributes more to environmental degradation while the Global South faces greater climate impacts.

Ranked: Countries by Consumption-based per Capita Emissions

When doing a standard ranking, there are multiple outliers in the general Global North/South divide. For example, the top five countries with the highest consumption-based per capita emissions are all from Asia.

As it happens, four of the five are small, rich, oil producers.

Rank	Country	Continent	Per capita consumption-based CO₂ emissions (tCO₂)
1	Singapore	Asia	27.7
2	Qatar	Asia	26.7
3	UAE	Asia	25.8
4	Kuwait	Asia	24.5
5	Brunei	Asia	21.7
6	Malta	Europe	19.4
7	Saudi Arabia	Asia	17.3
8	Belgium	Europe	17.2
9	U.S.	North America	16.5
10	Oman	Asia	15.4
11	Trinidad & Tobago	North America	13.9
12	Luxembourg	Europe	13.7
13	Switzerland	Europe	13.7
14	South Korea	Asia	13.3
15	Canada	North America	13.2
16	Australia	Oceania	13.1
17	Taiwan	Asia	12.5
18	Bahrain	Asia	12.3
19	Hong Kong	Asia	12.0
20	Mongolia	Asia	10.5
21	Estonia	Europe	10.5
22	Czechia	Europe	10.4
23	Germany	Europe	10.0
24	Austria	Europe	9.9
25	Japan	Asia	9.8
26	Slovenia	Europe	9.8
27	Netherlands	Europe	9.4
28	Russia	Europe/Asia	9.4
29	Finland	Europe	9.3
30	Ireland	Europe	9.3
31	Israel	Asia	8.7
32	Kazakhstan	Asia	8.5
33	Poland	Europe	8.3
34	Norway	Europe	8.3
35	Latvia	Europe	8.2
36	Lithuania	Europe	8.0
37	Denmark	Europe	8.0
38	New Zealand	Oceania	8.0
39	Malaysia	Asia	7.7
40	UK	Europe	7.6
41	Slovakia	Europe	7.6
42	Italy	Europe	7.3
43	China	Asia	7.2
44	Iran	Asia	7.0
45	Hungary	Europe	6.8
46	Sweden	Europe	6.5
47	France	Europe	6.4
48	Belarus	Europe	6.4
49	Bulgaria	Europe	5.9
50	Spain	Europe	5.7
51	Croatia	Europe	5.7
52	Cyprus	Europe	5.5
53	South Africa	Africa	5.0
54	Turkey	Europe/Asia	5.0
55	Greece	Europe	4.9
56	Chile	South America	4.9
57	Portugal	Europe	4.8
58	Ukraine	Europe	4.5
59	Romania	Europe	4.4
60	Mauritius	Africa	4.4
61	Botswana	Africa	4.4
62	Mexico	North America	4.0
63	Argentina	South America	3.9
64	Thailand	Asia	3.9
65	Azerbaijan	Asia	3.8
66	Georgia	Asia	3.7
67	Namibia	Africa	3.6
68	Panama	North America	3.6
69	Uruguay	South America	3.5
70	Laos	Asia	3.3
71	Armenia	Asia	2.8
72	Kyrgyzstan	Asia	2.8
73	Dominican Republic	North America	2.7
74	Jordan	Asia	2.7
75	Tunisia	Africa	2.7
76	Ecuador	South America	2.6
77	Cambodia	Asia	2.5
78	Jamaica	North America	2.5
79	Egypt	Africa	2.4
80	Costa Rica	North America	2.4
81	Vietnam	Asia	2.3
82	Indonesia	Asia	2.3
83	Brazil	South America	2.2
84	Paraguay	South America	2.1
85	Albania	Europe	2.1
86	Morocco	Africa	2.1
87	Colombia	South America	2.0
88	Peru	South America	1.9
89	Bolivia	South America	1.8
90	Sri Lanka	Asia	1.8
91	India	Asia	1.7
92	Philippines	Asia	1.6
93	El Salvador	North America	1.5
94	Venezuela	South America	1.4
95	Guatemala	North America	1.4
96	Tajikistan	Asia	1.4
97	Pakistan	Asia	1.1
98	Nicaragua	North America	1.0
99	Nepal	Asia	1.0
100	Togo	Africa	0.9
101	Senegal	Africa	0.9
102	Bangladesh	Asia	0.9
103	Honduras	North America	0.9
104	Ghana	Africa	0.8
105	Benin	Africa	0.7
106	Kenya	Africa	0.6
107	Nigeria	Africa	0.6
108	Zimbabwe	Africa	0.6
109	Côte d’Ivoire	Africa	0.6
110	Guinea	Africa	0.5
111	Mozambique	Africa	0.4
112	Cameroon	Africa	0.4
113	Zambia	Africa	0.4
114	Tanzania	Africa	0.3
115	Burkina Faso	Africa	0.3
116	Madagascar	Africa	0.2
117	Ethiopia	Africa	0.2
118	Uganda	Africa	0.2
119	Rwanda	Africa	0.2
120	Malawi	Africa	0.2
N/A	World	N/A	4.7

However, patterns do persist. For example, Ukraine, Romania and Albania are the only European countries below the average. And on the other hand, Chile and South Africa are the only South American and African countries above the average.

It’s worth noting that this map and article track and visualize a very specific metric, one that the source could not calculate for many countries.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

Any per capita visualization usually prompts questions of total emissions and vice-versa. For reference, here’s Visualizing All the World’s Carbon Emissions by Country.

The post Mapped: Carbon Emissions Per Capita, by Country appeared first on Visual Capitalist.

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