ABSTRACT
Many data are available on the production and consumption of goods and services in various regions of the world and in the world as a whole. Data on the amount of natural resources are more limited and, since many mineral resources remain as yet undiscovered, inevitably more tentative. The annual report of British Petroleum keeps an up-to-date record of reserves of commercial sources of energy. At intervals the United States Bureau of Mines publishes estimates of reserves of a large number of non-fuel minerals. Publications of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) show the area under crops, natural pasture and forest in the countries of the world. A rough guide to the availability of fresh water in different countries is given in Barney (1982). These sources
have been used to compile an assessment of the overall natural resource endowment of the countries of the world, all of which have been appropriately allocated to the twelve major world regions. The way the resources were calculated, weighted and grouped is outlined in Box 3.4.
