The concepts described on these pages are words and expressions used in statistics with a specific, limited meaning. In everyday speech the word may have a different meaning. In connection with each definition you can find information about which sets of statistics use the concept.

If you are looking for statistical figures, go from the definition to the statistics page.

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



Statistics using the definition

Validity of the definition

  • Valid

Source organisation

  • Tilastokeskus

Jaa