Top 10 Countries by Lithium Mine Production, 2025
Lithium production leaders by Li content, 2024 snapshot
The table ranks countries by lithium production expressed as tonnes of lithium metal content (Li). The primary source is the British Geological Survey’s World Mineral Production 2020–2024, published in 2026, using the 2024 lithium table and the BGS world total of 268,700 tonnes Li.
The metric is useful because lithium appears in different commercial forms: spodumene, petalite, lepidolite, lithium carbonate, lithium chloride and lithium hydroxide. Converting these forms into Li content creates one comparable unit. Battery markets often quote lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE); using the standard conversion, the 2024 BGS world total is roughly 1.43 million tonnes LCE.
The ranking measures primary lithium supply, not battery-cell manufacturing. A country can be a major lithium producer and still export concentrate or chemicals for refining, cathode production and cell manufacturing elsewhere.
BGS 2024 world total, expressed as lithium metal content.
108,633 tonnes Li, equal to about 40.43% of the BGS world total.
Australia, Chile and China together account for nearly three quarters of the 2024 total.
The country comparison covers the producing countries used for the 2024 Li-content ranking.
What the upper part of the lithium ranking shows
The 2024 distribution is extremely concentrated. Australia remains the clear leader through hard-rock spodumene output, while Chile and China form the next tier. Brazil and Zimbabwe moved into a much more visible position because hard-rock projects expanded quickly, and Argentina’s brine-based output also rose materially.
The ranking also shows why “lithium supply” should not be reduced to one country or one extraction model. Australia, Brazil, Zimbabwe, Canada, Nigeria, Portugal, Mozambique and Namibia are primarily hard-rock producers. Chile, Argentina and Bolivia rely on brine-related chemical routes. China combines domestic extraction with a much larger downstream battery-materials ecosystem.
Top 10 countries by lithium production in 2024
The Top 10 starts with six countries above 10,000 tonnes Li and then falls sharply. The United States is listed at 6,000 tonnes Li in the BGS table, while USGS withholds domestic U.S. production in its own lithium data sheet to avoid disclosing proprietary company information.
| Rank | Country | 2024 production | World share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AustraliaSpodumene Li content | 108,633 t Li | 40.43% |
| 2 | ChileCarbonate + hydroxide Li content | 50,639 t Li | 18.85% |
| 3 | ChinaReported Li content | 41,000 t Li | 15.26% |
| 4 | BrazilSpodumene Li content | 23,656 t Li | 8.80% |
| 5 | ZimbabwePetalite + spodumene + lepidolite Li content | 20,634 t Li | 7.68% |
| 6 | ArgentinaCarbonate + chloride Li content | 16,043 t Li | 5.97% |
| 7 | United StatesCarbonate Li content; BGS estimate | 6,000 t Li | 2.23% |
| 8 | CanadaSpodumene Li content | 1,218 t Li | 0.45% |
| 9 | NigeriaPetalite + spodumene Li content | 447 t Li | 0.17% |
| 10 | BoliviaCarbonate Li content | 188 t Li | 0.07% |
World shares are calculated against the BGS 2024 world total of 268,700 tonnes Li and rounded to two decimals.
Chart: concentration among the leading lithium producers
Australia alone accounts for just over two fifths of the 2024 BGS total. Adding Chile and China brings the cumulative share to about 74.53%, which explains why lithium supply-security analysis often starts with a small number of mining and brine jurisdictions.
Methodology
The ranking is based on the 2024 lithium table in BGS World Mineral Production 2020–2024. Country output is expressed as tonnes of lithium metal content, allowing spodumene, petalite, lepidolite, carbonate, chloride and selected hydroxide output to be compared in a single unit.
Indicator formula
Country share = country Li-content production / BGS world total × 100. The BGS 2024 world total used here is 268,700 tonnes Li.
Snapshot year
2024 is used because it is the latest full-year BGS production dataset available in the 2020–2024 edition published in 2026.
Unit conversion
Li content is the table unit. For battery-market comparison, 1 tonne Li is approximately 5.323 tonnes lithium carbonate equivalent.
Rounding
Production values are kept as shown or implied by the source table. Shares are calculated from the BGS world total and rounded to two decimals.
The country table is aligned with the BGS 2024 world total for Li-content production. BGS also lists hydroxide rows for France and Australia, but those rows are not added to the country ranking because the BGS world total aligns with the upstream country comparison without those additional downstream hydroxide entries. This avoids mixing primary production with later-stage converted material in the main ranking.
Comparability limits remain important. BGS compiles data from official bodies, statistical offices, specialist authorities, company information and estimates where public statistics are incomplete. USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 is used as a cross-check and market-context source, but it should not be treated as an interchangeable series: USGS withholds U.S. production, marks it as undisclosed, and its world total excludes U.S. output.
Full country production table
The table includes 13 producing countries used for the 2024 Li-content comparison. The gap between the largest and smallest listed producers is large: Australia exceeds 100,000 tonnes Li, while the final rows are below 200 tonnes Li.
| Rank | Country and reported form | 2024 production | World share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AustraliaSpodumene Li content | 108,633 t Li | 40.43% |
| 2 | ChileCarbonate + hydroxide Li content | 50,639 t Li | 18.85% |
| 3 | ChinaReported Li content | 41,000 t Li | 15.26% |
| 4 | BrazilSpodumene Li content | 23,656 t Li | 8.80% |
| 5 | ZimbabwePetalite + spodumene + lepidolite Li content | 20,634 t Li | 7.68% |
| 6 | ArgentinaCarbonate + chloride Li content | 16,043 t Li | 5.97% |
| 7 | United StatesCarbonate Li content; BGS estimate | 6,000 t Li | 2.23% |
| 8 | CanadaSpodumene Li content | 1,218 t Li | 0.45% |
| 9 | NigeriaPetalite + spodumene Li content | 447 t Li | 0.17% |
| 10 | BoliviaCarbonate Li content | 188 t Li | 0.07% |
| 11 | PortugalLepidolite Li content | 174 t Li | 0.06% |
| 12 | MozambiqueLepidolite + spodumene Li content | 74 t Li | 0.03% |
| 13 | NamibiaLepidolite Li content | 4 t Li | <0.01% |
The country rows sum to approximately the BGS world total, with a small rounding difference from the published total.
Insights from the 2024 lithium production table
The upper tier is not simply “resource-rich countries.” It is a group of jurisdictions where resources, permitting, processing routes and export infrastructure already operate at scale. Australia’s hard-rock model is fast to expand when prices support new projects, while Chile’s brine-and-chemical model remains highly productive but is governed by water, permitting and salt-flat management constraints.
The middle of the table is where the most important structural change appears. Brazil and Zimbabwe have become much more visible in the global ranking, which reduces the appearance of a purely Australia-Chile-China supply map. Argentina’s role is also expanding, but brine projects tend to have different ramp-up profiles from hard-rock mines.
The lower rows are strategically interesting even when volumes are small. Canada, Nigeria, Portugal, Mozambique and Namibia show how early-stage or smaller hard-rock output can enter the statistics before it becomes a major global share. These rows matter for future diversification, but they do not yet change the fact that the 2024 supply base is highly concentrated.
What this means for readers
For investors and analysts, the ranking separates upstream supply from battery manufacturing. A high Li-content figure signals resource extraction and primary lithium availability, not necessarily local refining, cathode production or battery-cell capacity.
For businesses exposed to EVs, grid storage or battery materials, the table highlights supply-chain concentration risk. Disruption in a small number of producing countries can affect contract pricing, concentrate flows, chemical conversion margins and inventory strategy.
For policymakers, the ranking points to the difference between mineral endowment and industrial strategy. Securing lithium supply requires more than approving mines: processing capacity, environmental governance, transport links, trade relationships and recycling systems all shape how mined lithium becomes battery-ready material.
FAQ
Is this the same as battery production?
No. The ranking measures lithium production as Li content. Battery production depends on additional stages: refining, precursor and cathode production, cell manufacturing, pack assembly and demand from EVs or stationary storage.
Why is Australia first if China is so dominant in batteries?
Australia leads the upstream lithium production table because of large hard-rock spodumene output. China’s strength is broader: it has domestic lithium output, major chemical conversion capacity and a very large battery-manufacturing ecosystem.
Why do BGS and USGS lithium numbers differ?
They use different reporting structures, estimates and disclosure rules. USGS withholds U.S. production in the lithium data sheet and its world total excludes U.S. output. BGS publishes a broader production table that includes country Li-content rows and a world total.
Why are some countries with lithium resources not high in the table?
Resources are not the same as production. A country may have large identified resources but limited commercial output because projects are still in exploration, permitting, financing, pilot processing or infrastructure development.
What is the difference between Li content and LCE?
Li content measures the lithium metal contained in different minerals and compounds. LCE, or lithium carbonate equivalent, converts lithium into a battery-market convention. One tonne of Li is approximately 5.323 tonnes LCE.
Sources
-
British Geological Survey — World Mineral Production 2020–2024.
Primary source for the 2024 lithium production table, country Li-content values and world total used in the ranking.
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/541620/1/WMP_2020%20to%202024.pdf -
British Geological Survey — World mineral statistics overview.
Used to confirm publication scope, dataset continuity and the 2020–2024 edition context.
https://www.bgs.ac.uk/mineralsuk/statistics/world-mineral-statistics/ -
U.S. Geological Survey — Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Lithium.
Used as a cross-check for mine-production framing, U.S. disclosure limits, global market context, battery end-use share and 2025 production estimates.
https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2026/mcs2026-lithium.pdf
