Ranked: World Carbon Emissions by Country

Visualized: Share of World Carbon Emissions by Country

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This graphic breaks down the share of global carbon emissions by country, categorized into income groups.

Countries with a share below 0.4% are combined into the “other” group in each income category.

Data for this chart is sourced from Climate Watch for the year 2022—the latest available figures. Income group categorization uses the current World Bank classification system.

Income group classification is based off gross national income (GNI) per capita data in U.S. dollars, converted from local currencies. Upper and lower middle-income groups have been combined into one for this graphic.

Share of World Carbon Emissions by Country in 2022

Ranked first, China accounts for 26% of all global emissions, measured at 12.7 billion tCO₂e in 2022. For reference, China has a population of 1.4 billion people.

Rank	Country	ISO Code	Share of Total Emissions	Carbon Emissions (in million tCO2e, 2022)
1	China	CHN	26.16%	12,716
2	U.S.	USA	11.53%	5,604
3	India	IND	7.69%	3,737
4	Russia	RUS	3.75%	1,821
5	Brazil	BRA	3.16%	1,538
6	Indonesia	IDN	3.15%	1,530
7	Japan	JPN	2.15%	1,044
8	Iran	IRN	2.06%	1,004
9	Saudi Arabia	SAU	1.60%	775
10	Canada	CAN	1.54%	750
11	DRC	COD	1.44%	700
12	Germany	DEU	1.43%	696
13	Mexico	MEX	1.31%	637
14	South Korea	KOR	1.29%	627
15	Australia	AUS	1.18%	574
16	South Africa	ZAF	1.09%	530
17	Pakistan	PAK	1.04%	505
18	Türkiye	TUR	1.02%	497
19	Thailand	THA	0.96%	466
20	Vietnam	VNM	0.93%	454
21	Argentina	ARG	0.88%	429
22	UK	GBR	0.85%	414
23	Malaysia	MYS	0.80%	387
24	Italy	ITA	0.76%	370
25	Nigeria	NGA	0.73%	356
26	Poland	POL	0.72%	348
27	Egypt	EGY	0.69%	336
28	France	FRA	0.68%	330
29	Kazakhstan	KAZ	0.68%	328
30	Iraq	IRQ	0.63%	305
31	Algeria	DZA	0.60%	293
32	Colombia	COL	0.57%	279
33	Spain	ESP	0.57%	275
34	Venezuela	VEN	0.54%	264
35	Bangladesh	BGD	0.52%	255
36	UAE	ARE	0.52%	253
37	Philippines	PHL	0.51%	247
38	Turkmenistan	TKM	0.44%	215
39	Myanmar	MMR	0.43%	209
40	Ethiopia	ETH	0.43%	209
41	Peru	PER	0.41%	199
42	Uzbekistan	UZB	0.38%	187
43	Tanzania	TZA	0.36%	176
44	Ukraine	UKR	0.35%	169
45	Netherlands	NLD	0.31%	153
46	Kuwait	KWT	0.31%	149
47	Bolivia	BOL	0.28%	136
48	Angola	AGO	0.27%	134
49	Cameroon	CMR	0.27%	131
50	Sudan	SDN	0.26%	128
51	Qatar	QAT	0.25%	122
52	Chad	TCD	0.25%	119
53	Zimbabwe	ZWE	0.24%	117
54	Mozambique	MOZ	0.24%	115
55	Czech Republic	CZE	0.22%	106
56	Oman	OMN	0.22%	106
57	Ecuador	ECU	0.21%	103
58	Libya	LBY	0.21%	102
59	Zambia	ZMB	0.20%	96
60	Paraguay	PRY	0.20%	95
61	Belgium	BEL	0.19%	95
62	Morocco	MAR	0.19%	92
63	Israel	ISR	0.18%	89
64	North Korea	PRK	0.18%	87
65	Belarus	BLR	0.17%	84
66	Mongolia	MNG	0.17%	82
67	Kenya	KEN	0.17%	81
68	Cambodia	KHM	0.16%	77
69	Romania	ROU	0.16%	77
70	Greece	GRC	0.15%	72
71	Singapore	SGP	0.14%	70
72	New Zealand	NZL	0.14%	68
73	Ireland	IRL	0.14%	67
74	South Sudan	SSD	0.13%	64
75	Austria	AUT	0.13%	63
76	Serbia	SRB	0.13%	63
77	Uganda	UGA	0.13%	61
78	Côte d’Ivoire	CIV	0.12%	61
79	Finland	FIN	0.12%	60
80	Botswana	BWA	0.12%	60
81	Burkina Faso	BFA	0.12%	59
82	Hungary	HUN	0.12%	59
83	Syria	SYR	0.12%	58
84	Central African Republic	CAF	0.12%	58
85	Azerbaijan	AZE	0.12%	57
86	Bahrain	BHR	0.12%	57
87	Papua New Guinea	PNG	0.11%	55
88	Portugal	PRT	0.11%	54
89	Nepal	NPL	0.11%	53
90	Niger	NER	0.11%	53
91	Chile	CHL	0.11%	52
92	Mali	MLI	0.10%	47
93	Solomon Islands	SLB	0.10%	46
94	Dominican Republic	DOM	0.09%	45
95	Laos	LAO	0.09%	45
96	Madagascar	MDG	0.09%	43
97	Somalia	SOM	0.09%	43
98	Guatemala	GTM	0.09%	43
99	Guinea	GIN	0.09%	43
100	Denmark	DNK	0.09%	43
101	Switzerland	CHE	0.08%	41
102	Nicaragua	NIC	0.08%	40
103	Senegal	SEN	0.08%	39
104	Tunisia	TUN	0.08%	39
105	Sri Lanka	LKA	0.08%	36
106	Uruguay	URY	0.07%	36
107	Jordan	JOR	0.07%	36
108	Slovakia	SVK	0.07%	35
109	Sweden	SWE	0.07%	34
110	Afghanistan	AFG	0.07%	33
111	Norway	NOR	0.06%	32
112	Congo	COG	0.06%	31
113	Cuba	CUB	0.06%	30
114	Honduras	HND	0.06%	29
115	Yemen	YEM	0.06%	28
116	Benin	BEN	0.05%	26
117	Trinidad & Tobago	TTO	0.05%	24
118	Bosnia & Herzegovina	BIH	0.05%	24
119	Panama	PAN	0.05%	24
120	Lithuania	LTU	0.05%	24
121	Namibia	NAM	0.05%	22
122	Gabon	GAB	0.04%	22
123	Malawi	MWI	0.04%	21
124	Bulgaria	BGR	0.04%	20
125	Guyana	GUY	0.04%	20
126	Georgia	GEO	0.04%	19
127	Tajikistan	TJK	0.04%	19
128	Lebanon	LBN	0.04%	18
129	Croatia	HRV	0.04%	18
130	Ghana	GHA	0.04%	18
131	Estonia	EST	0.04%	18
132	Slovenia	SVN	0.03%	16
133	Liberia	LBR	0.03%	15
134	El Salvador	SLV	0.03%	14
135	Kyrgyzstan	KGZ	0.03%	14
136	Mauritania	MRT	0.03%	14
137	Suriname	SUR	0.03%	14
138	Moldova	MDA	0.03%	13
139	Equatorial Guinea	GNQ	0.02%	12
140	Haiti	HTI	0.02%	12
141	Brunei	BRN	0.02%	12
142	Latvia	LVA	0.02%	11
143	Armenia	ARM	0.02%	11
144	Togo	TGO	0.02%	11
145	North Macedonia	MKD	0.02%	10
146	Sierra Leone	SLE	0.02%	10
147	Rwanda	RWA	0.02%	10
148	Jamaica	JAM	0.02%	9
149	Costa Rica	CRI	0.02%	9
150	Cyprus	CYP	0.02%	8
151	Burundi	BDI	0.02%	8
152	Albania	ALB	0.02%	8
153	Luxembourg	LUX	0.02%	8
154	Eritrea	ERI	0.01%	7
155	Mauritius	MUS	0.01%	7
156	Belize	BLZ	0.01%	7
157	East Timor	TLS	0.01%	6
158	Guinea-Bissau	GNB	0.01%	4
159	Lesotho	LSO	0.01%	4
160	Montenegro	MNE	0.01%	4
161	Barbados	BRB	0.01%	4
162	Iceland	ISL	0.01%	3
163	Eswatini	SWZ	0.01%	3
164	Bahamas	BHS	0.01%	3
165	Gambia	GMB	0.01%	3
166	Maldives	MDV	0.01%	3
167	Grenada	GRD	0.00%	2
168	Malta	MLT	0.00%	2
169	Djibouti	DJI	0.00%	2
170	Antigua & Barbuda	ATG	0.00%	2
171	Seychelles	SYC	0.00%	1
172	Saint Lucia	LCA	0.00%	1
173	Bhutan	BTN	0.00%	1
174	Comoros	COM	0.00%	1
175	Cabo Verde	CPV	0.00%	1
176	Vanuatu	VUT	0.00%	1
177	Samoa	WSM	0.00%	1
178	Andorra	AND	0.00%	1
179	São Tomé & Principe	STP	0.00%	0.4
180	Saint Kitts & Nevis	KNA	0.00%	0.4
181	Saint Vincent & the Grenadines	VCT	0.00%	0.3
182	Tonga	TON	0.00%	0.3
183	Palau	PLW	0.00%	0.2
184	Dominica	DMA	0.00%	0.2
185	Marshall Islands	MHL	0.00%	0.2
186	Micronesia	FSM	0.00%	0.2
187	Liechtenstein	LIE	0.00%	0.2
188	Kiribati	KIR	0.00%	0.1
189	Cook Islands	COK	0.00%	0.1
190	Nauru	NRU	0.00%	0.1
191	Tuvalu	TUV	0.00%	0.02
192	Niue	NIU	0.00%	0.01
N/A	World	N/A	N/A	48,612

Meanwhile, at second place, the U.S. is responsible for another 11.5% of all emissions, with a population of 333 million people.

The two countries together account for 38% of the entire world’s emissions. This is slightly less than their share of the world economy (43%) and a lot less than their share of the world’s population (22%).

On a per capita basis, the U.S. produces almost double the emissions per person (14 tCO₂e) compared to China (8 tCO₂e).

Most of the top 10 emitters are also the world’s most populous countries, barring Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Canada.

Developing Countries Are Driving Emissions Growth

Another obvious takeaway from the chart is how middle-income countries are responsible for the largest share of emissions.

Before we can go into the why, there is also some simple arithmetic at play. For one, more countries are in the middle-income distribution than high- or low-income categories.

And many of these middle-income countries have large, growing populations, which increases aggregate emissions.

However, it is also true that they are driving global carbon emissions growth. And this is because:

1. They are prioritizing economic development, leading to an overall increase in energy consumption (and related emissions).
2. Most emissions-heavy industries and manufacturing plants have moved from high-income countries to middle- and low-income ones.
3. Thus, high-income countries are able to sustain their consumption levels while the emissions from producing the goods they consume are accounted for elsewhere.

This last point is particularly crucial when it comes to emissions math. In fact, when accounting for these consumption-based emissions on a per capita basis, high-income countries are still responsible for a significant part of global carbon emissions.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

Wondering what the same chart looks like, but with an economic lens? Check out: World’s Carbon Emissions by Sector for a similar breakdown.

• Source: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-world-carbon-emissions-by-country/