Total annual emissions allow us to see the world’s largest emitters in absolute terms. But they tend to tell a story of population – China and India, for example, are in the top three emitters, but are also the two most populous countries in the world.
How do emissions compare when we correct for population?
This map shows per capita greenhouse gas emissions. This is measured in tonnes per person per year.
Here we see that many of the world’s smaller countries are the largest per capita emitters. These countries, such as Guyana, Brunei, Botswana, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait tend to be large oil and/or gas producers.
Of the major emitters we see large differences in per capita emissions: in the US, the average person emits more than 18 tonnes; in China its less than half, at 8 tonnes; and in India, emissions are much smaller at around 2.5 tonnes.
