It is well known fact that with increasing population, world is running out of its natural resources. Although many countries have variety of natural resources which are indigenous to particular region, high demand for crude oil and petroleum products have made some countries richer. No wonder in the top 10 list, there are 4 OPEC countries Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela. Today I will try to list out top 5 resources rich nations in the world.
Image Source
5. Iran:
As per Wikipedia Iran has ~$27 trillion in natural resources including Natural Gas and Crude Oil. As I mentioned earlier, it is one of the member of OPEC countries and produces 10% and 16% of world’s crude oil and natural gas needs respectively.
4. Canada:
Canada is second largest countries in the world in terms of area that has diverse natural resources. It is the fourth largest in the list with ~33 trillion USD worth. As per recent estimates the country has almost 18% of total global natural reserves (Crude Oil) making it as the second largest country after Saudi Arabia. The country also has largest resources like uranium, Phosphate and Timer.
3. Saudi Arabia:
The country has ~ 34 trillion USD worth of natural resources and 20 percent of world oil reserves. Unlike other countries the country has more reserves and they are much closer to the surface which makes the extraction cheaper than many other places. 55% of country’s GDP is coming from exporting petroleum exports.
Image Source
2. U. S of America:
With 45 trillion USD worth of natural resources, USA stands second in the list. Country has thousands of acres of fertile land because of Grate Plains. Apart from natural gas resources, the country also has ~31% of the world’s coal mines, timber, gold and copper mines.
1. Russia:
The largest country in the world is also the richest country in terms of natural resources. The country has almost 30% of all the natural resources of the world. As per World Bank statistics, Russia has 75 trillion USD worth of natural resources. The country is also home to the largest deposits of rare earth minerals.
The economic growth of any country depends on different types of natural resources. We can see that all the developed countries in the world has good natural resources. It is also fact that the over usage of any country’s natural resources will have negative impact on country’s economies in long term.
I have collected majority of information from a report on “10 Countries with Most Natural Resources in the World” by Nancy Carroll dated in 2015. Current statistics and figures may be slightly different