Sustainable consumption and production

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13. Resource use

Domestic Material Consumption and Gross Domestic Product, 1990 to 2006

Domestic Material Consumption since:

1990

1999

Stone, sand and gravel extraction

Construction output and extraction of construction materials, 1990 to 2006

Contextual indicator

• Domestic Material Consumption (DMC) is the total mass of materials directly consumed by the economy (it excludes waste from manufacture of imported goods).
• The economy (Gross Domestic Product) grew by 48 per cent in real terms between 1990 and 2006. In contrast DMC was 12 per cent lower in 2006 than in 1990 having remained relatively stable since 1993 - with reductions in use of UK resources balanced by increases in imports.  Whilst this shows that the economy has grown without an associated increase in resources,  the UK is still consuming the same amount of the world's resources every year as it did in 1993.
• Mineral extraction, primarily used for construction, accounted for 39 per cent of DMC in 2006. The level of construction mineral extraction decreased by 22 per cent between 1990 and 2006.
• The amount of material extracted and the value of output (GVA) from the construction industry were closely linked until the late 1980s. However, since 1994 the two have diverged markedly, with output value increasing steadily whilst being less dependent on minerals extraction.
  

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