Energy embedded in traded goods as a share of domestic energy by country

Net energy embedded in traded goods is the difference in energy embedded in exported goods, and imported goods. A positive value means that a country is a net importer; a negative means it's a net exporter. This is given as a percentage of a country's domestic energy use.

Countries reporting
43
Highest
126.9%
Malta
Lowest
-30.7%
South Africa
Median
2.8%
Years covered
26
1995–2020
Data points
1,113

What the numbers show

Energy embedded in traded goods as a share of domestic energy is currently reported for 43 countries. The highest value is 126.9% in Malta; the lowest is -30.7% in South Africa.

The median across all reporting countries is 2.8%, and the mean is 8.0%.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 4.

Over the past decade 17 countries rose and 26 fell. The largest increase was in Estonia (up 148.3%), and the largest decrease in Mexico (down 473.4%).

Energy embedded in traded goods as a share of domestic energy: full country ranking

#Country LatestYear 10-year changeTrend
1 Malta 126.9% 2020 up 36.7% volatile
2 Switzerland 67.9% 2020 up 11.4% rising
3 Luxembourg 36.7% 2020 up 106.4% volatile
4 Ireland 35.5% 2020 up 52.5% flat
5 Denmark 27.3% 2020 up 43.2% falling
6 United Kingdom 26.0% 2020 up 1.3% rising
7 Belgium 25.3% 2020 up 9.2% volatile
8 Austria 22.5% 2020 down 3.0% falling
9 Italy 20.9% 2020 down 30.8% falling
10 France 16.8% 2020 up 11.6% rising
11 Germany 14.2% 2020 up 22.9% falling
12 United States 12.3% 2020 up 28.5% rising
13 Turkey 10.5% 2020 down 53.4% falling
14 Croatia 10.3% 2020 up 3.7% volatile
15 Portugal 7.6% 2020 down 68.2% falling
16 Romania 7.4% 2020 down 1.3% volatile
17 Slovenia 7.4% 2020 down 49.3% volatile
18 Latvia 6.5% 2020 down 67.0% volatile
19 Netherlands 5.5% 2020 up 139.8% volatile
20 Estonia 4.0% 2020 up 148.3% volatile
21 Spain 3.1% 2020 down 74.4% volatile
22 Norway 2.8% 2020 down 60.8% volatile
23 Japan 2.5% 2019 down 53.6% volatile
24 Sweden 0.3% 2020 down 93.4% volatile
25 Slovakia 0.2% 2020 down 97.9% volatile
26 Poland -0.1% 2020 down 102.8% volatile
27 Lithuania -0.6% 2020 down 107.1% volatile
28 India -1.2% 2020 up 37.5% rising
29 Hungary -1.9% 2020 down 140.2% volatile
30 Indonesia -2.0% 2020 down 245.9% volatile
31 Australia -2.7% 2020 down 115.5% volatile
32 Czechia -3.3% 2020 up 15.1% volatile
33 Greece -3.7% 2020 down 129.0% volatile
34 Brazil -4.2% 2020 down 189.2% volatile
35 China -5.2% 2020 up 53.8% rising
36 Finland -6.6% 2020 down 337.8% volatile
37 Mexico -9.2% 2020 down 473.4% volatile
38 South Korea -10.0% 2020 up 32.2% volatile
39 Canada -11.4% 2020 down 194.3% rising
40 Cyprus -12.7% 2020 down 146.1% volatile
41 Bulgaria -22.8% 2020 down 86.8% rising
42 Russia -27.1% 2020 down 8.7% rising
43 South Africa -30.7% 2020 down 45.1% falling

About this data

Indicator
Energy embedded in traded goods as a share of domestic energy
Unit
%
Source
Kulionis (2021) – processed by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
43 places, 1,113 data points, 1995–2020
Last refreshed

Net energy embedded in traded goods is the difference in energy embedded in exported goods, and imported goods. A positive value means that a country is a net importer; a negative means it's a net exporter. This is given as a percentage of a country's domestic energy use.