Material intensity

Material intensity describes the national economy's dependency on natural resources. It can be measured as the ratio of total material requirement, domestic material consumption or direct inputs to GDP. As material intensity decreases, the aim is to reach a situation where the state of the environment does not deteriorate as the economy grows. This is also known as decoupling of economic growth and environmental impacts. Domestic material consumption in relation to GDP is one of the sustainable development indicators (SDG).

= DMC/GDP