Domestic material consumption

Dátum poslednej aktualizácie:24.01.2024

Téma

Materiálové toky

Značky

Definícia indikátora

The indicator describes the development of domestic material consumption (DMC) by material groups. It indicates whether materials are used efficiently during their life cycle.

Jednotka indikátora

thous. t, EUR/kg

Metadáta

Related definitions:

Resource productivity represents the ratio of GDP (in constant prices) and domestic material consumption (Domestic Material Consumption - DMC).
 
Domestic material consumption measures the total amount of materials directly spent in the economy, excluding the hidden material flows. It is determined based on the Eurostat methodology (analysis of material flows at the macro level) and it represents the sum of domestic utilised extraction, i.e. the amount of extracted mineral resources (energy, mining, non-metallic and construction materials) and produced collected biomass (agricultural crops, logging, grazed biomass and so on) that were obtained in the territory of the given state per time unit. These materials from domestic environment are added with imports and deducted of exports (imports and exports of raw materials, biomass, semi-finished goods and final consumption products). The reduction of material consumption or increasing the resources productivity  leads to a reduction of total material demands of socio-economic system and to the reduction of environmental load.
 

Methodology:

Analysis of material flows at the macro level (Economy-wide material flow analysis - EW-MFA) is a descriptive tool, which aims to provide information on flows of materials and energy entering and leaving the economic sector of the society concerned. The purpose of the material flow evaluation (balance) is – using the indicators- to quantify the overall demands of the economic system for materials which are expressed as material inputs, their consumption or waste streams releasing back from the economic system to the environment. EW-MFA indicators are compiled based on Eurostat methodology, using data transmitted to Eurostat (for SR the data are sent by the SO SR) under the Regulation No. 691/2011 on European environmental economic accounts.
 
Indicators of material flow are regarded to be a suitable tool for expressing the separation of environmental load and economy performance curves, as these are highly aggregated indicators of environmental load, arranged according to a fixed scheme. They quantify the total amount of materials consumed in human society, as well as the amount of materials released to the environment as the result of human activity. These indicators thus represent appropriate complement to the interdisciplinary structural balance in monetary or physical units which can be used for national economic analysis. If input indicators of material flows and consumption indicators are assigned with the indicators of national accounts, such as gross domestic product (GDP), the efficiency of the economic system is measured by converting materials into economic output. These indicators describe resource productivity (ratio of GDP and a respective indicator) or material intensity (the ratio of the indicator to GDP).
 

Data sources:

Eurostat

Related indicators:

Related international indicators:

Linked references:

Väzba indikátora k rozvojovým dokumentom a cieľom

The need to increase the efficiency of material converting into economic output and reducing the environmental load per unit of economic performance is highlighted in the EU Sustainable Development Strategy, the EU thematic strategy for the sustainable use of natural resources and Recommendation of the OECD Council on material flows and resource productivity. They are not currently included in any strategic documents of SR.

Kľúčová otázka

What is the development of domestic material consumption?

Kľúčové zistenia

  • Domestic material consumption (DMC) in 2021 reached a value of 65 585 thousand tons, which is 12.0 tons per capita. In the period from 2005 to 2021, a decrease of DMC per capita by approx. 14% was recorded.


 
Change since 2005 Change since 2015 Last year-on-year change
Pozitivny trend Pozitivny trend Neutralny trend
Since 2005, there has been a decline in domestic material consumption. Since 2015, domestic material consumption has decreased slightly. Compared to the previous year, there was a slight increase in domestic material consumption.

 

Sumárne zhodnotenie

Podrobné zhodnotenie

Domestic extraction (mineral raw materials and biomass) plus imports represent direct material input (DMI) into the economy. The total amount of materials directly used within the national economy is tracked by domestic material consumption (DMC), which is calculated as direct material input minus exports. In 2021, DMC in the Slovak Republic was 65 585 thousand tons, which represents 12.0 tons per capita (the average value within the EU states was 14.4 tons per capita). In the period from 2005 to 2021, a decrease in DMC per capita was recorded by about 14%. In 2021, domestic extraction for the Slovak Republic was 10.5 tons per capita, while the average value within the EU was 12.4 tons per capita. The import of goods was 8.6 tons per capita. Direct material input (DMI) was 19.1 tons per capita (the average value within the EU states was 16.1 tons per capita). Domestic material consumption (DMC) was 12.0 tons per capita (the average value within the EU states was 14.4 tons per capita).
 



The amount of materials available in the SR and their utilization (the relationship between domestic extraction, DMI, DMC, import and export), year 2021, tonnes/capita.
Source: Eurostat


A more detailed view at the composition of DMC provides an impression of the importance of various materials and their possible potential for their recovery. In 2021, DMC in Slovakia consisted mainly of non-metallic minerals (49.8%), followed by biomass with 26.6%, of fossil energy materials (17.4%) and metal ores with 6.2%.
 
The size of the share of imports in DMC also has an important explanatory power. The larger the ratio of this share, the more sensitive the economy of a given state is to random fluctuations in foreign trade (a shortage of certain commodities, an unexpected increase in their prices, etc.). The share of imports in DMC increased from 50.3% in 2005 to 71.8% in 2021, which means an increasing degree of dependence of the Slovak economy on the import of raw materials.

Medzinárodné porovnanie

Kontakt na spracovateľa

Ing. Katarína Škantárová, SAŽP, katarina.skantarova@sazp.sk