China, India and the USA - the largest extractors of domestic raw materials

China was the largest extractor of domestic raw materials in the world in 2023, according to data from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), taken by Statista. The Asian country extracted a total of 34.2 billion tons of raw materials, namely biomass, fossil fuels, metal ores and non-metallic minerals. This amount is more than four times that of either of the next two largest extracting countries: India (8.03 billion tons) and the United States (7.98 billion tons). India has overtaken the United States for the first time to become the second largest raw material extractor in 2023.

Followed by Brazil, with 5 billion tons, Russia, with 3.1 billion tons, Australia and Indonesia, each with 2.7 billion tons, Canada - with 2.6 billion tons.

After domestic extraction of raw materials per capita, the picture is very different: Australia tops the list with 102 tonnes of raw materials extracted per capita, followed by Canada with 67 tonnes and only then China with 24 of tons per capita in 2023. Followed by the USA and Brazil, each with 23 tons, Russia with 22, Indonesia with 10 tons, and India with 6.

In terms of relative shares of raw materials mined per country, China's mix is predominantly made up of non-metallic materials (70% of the total). These include sand, gravel and clay for construction and industrial purposes. At the same time, the largest industry of the four categories in Australia is metal ores, representing approximately 53% of the country's total. This includes iron, aluminum, copper and other non-ferrous metals.

Globally, a total of 104.1 billion tonnes of biomass, fossil fuels, metal ores and non-metallic minerals were extracted in 2023, up from 96.5 billion tonnes in 2020, according to the source cited. Asia and the Pacific accounted for the largest share with 56.9 billion tonnes of materials (about 55% of the world total), followed by Latin America and the Caribbean with 11.2 billion tonnes (11%), North America , with 10.6 billion tons (10%), Europe - with 9.2 billion tons (9%), Africa - with 8.2 billion tons (8%), West Asia - with 5.3 billion of tons (5%), Eastern Europe and Central Asia - with 2.9 billion tons (3%).