What is CO2 emissions (metric tons per capita)?

Name: CO2 emissions (metric tons per capita) by Country
Creator: World Bank
License: https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/public-licenses#cc-by

Environment

CO2 emissions (metric tons per capita)

Carbon dioxide emissions are those stemming from the burning of fossil fuels and the manufacture of cement. They include carbon dioxide produced during consumption of solid, liquid, and gas fuels and gas flaring.

World Bank code: EN.ATM.CO2E.PC

What this measures: CO2 emissions per capita measures carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion divided by population. It is a key environmental sustainability metric. Wealthier, more industrialized countries typically have higher per capita emissions, though this is changing as renewable energy expands.

How "Environment" indicators are measured

Environmental indicators cover emissions, land use, biodiversity, and natural resources. Emissions data is often produced by international scientific consortia (EDGAR, Global Carbon Project) and typically lags 2–3 years due to the complexity of fuel- and process-level accounting. Per-capita metrics reveal a different story than absolute totals — small wealthy countries can have high per-capita emissions while contributing little to the global total.

Download full dataset: CSV JSON

Source: World Bank Open Data (EN.ATM.CO2E.PC), CC BY 4.0. Rankings show countries with available data for .