Top 100 Countries by CO₂ Emissions per Capita, 2025
“Per capita” CO₂ is one of the fastest ways to understand how carbon-intensive a country’s everyday economy is for the average resident — but it also has blind spots. This ranking focuses on territorial CO₂ from fossil fuels and industry (the standard Global Carbon Project / Our World in Data series), expressed in tonnes per person. It is the most widely used apples-to-apples metric for cross-country comparison.
Default is the newest year with broad country coverage; you can change it in the ranking section.
Territorial CO₂ from fossil fuels & industry.
Median across the displayed Top 100 countries.
Highest territorial CO₂ emissions per capita in the selected year.
What “per capita” captures (and what it doesn’t)
CO₂ emissions per person compress an entire national economy into a single, human-scaled number: how many tonnes of CO₂ are emitted within a country’s borders for each resident. It naturally combines three forces: the carbon intensity of energy (coal vs gas vs renewables), the structure of the economy (heavy industry vs services), and the level of consumption and mobility.
But it is not a moral score and it is not the same as “responsibility for climate change.” High per-capita numbers often reflect geography and legacy infrastructure (heating/cooling loads), resource endowments (oil & gas), and the industrial role a country plays in global supply chains. That’s why “per capita” should be read together with production/exports context and absolute emissions.
- Useful for: comparing carbon intensity of daily life and domestic energy systems across countries.
- Less suitable for: assigning responsibility for emissions embodied in trade (imports/exports).
- Important nuance: territorial accounting counts emissions where they are produced, not where goods are consumed.
Producers vs consumers: why “export economies” can look extreme
In territorial data, countries with energy-intensive export industries can rank very high even if the final consumption happens elsewhere. A classic pattern is an economy that: (1) extracts or processes fossil fuels, (2) hosts metals, cement, chemicals, or refining capacity, and (3) serves international markets. In that case, CO₂ per capita can be elevated because production is large relative to population.
The opposite pattern also exists: wealthy consumer economies can import carbon-intensive materials and appear cleaner in territorial terms than their lifestyle implies. For trade-adjusted perspectives, you can use “consumption-based CO₂” datasets — but for consistent country comparisons and long-run time series, territorial per-capita remains the standard baseline.
Outliers: what usually drives very high or very low values
When you see a country far above the pack, the explanation is rarely “one thing.” It is typically a combination of energy mix, industrial footprint, and scale. A few common drivers:
- Hydrocarbon extraction & processing: oil and gas production, LNG, refining, petrochemicals.
- Metals and materials: aluminum, steel, cement, and other high-heat processes.
- Electricity mix: coal-heavy grids raise the footprint of everything else (industry, homes, EV charging).
- Climate and settlement patterns: heating/cooling demand, long travel distances, limited public transport.
- Small populations: large industrial facilities can push per-capita values up quickly.
For connected context on energy systems and industrial scale, see: electricity production, renewables electricity, and plastics & waste.
Top 100 ranking (select year, then filter)
This table ranks countries by CO₂ emissions per capita (tonnes per person) in the selected year. Values reflect emissions produced within national borders from fossil fuels and industry.
| Rank | Country | CO₂ per capita (t) |
|---|
Top 20 countries (bar chart)
The Top 20 view makes the concentration at the top easier to read. The chart below is drawn as an inline SVG for stable rendering across themes and page builders.
Tip for interpretation: a high per-capita rank often signals either (a) carbon-intensive electricity and heat, (b) heavy industry relative to population, or (c) oil & gas extraction and processing.
CO₂ per capita vs GDP per capita (PPP)
In broad strokes, richer economies tend to emit more CO₂ per person because they consume more energy, travel more, and build more infrastructure. But the relationship is not one-to-one: energy mix, industrial structure, and export roles can push countries far above or below what income alone would suggest.
GDP per capita is shown on a log scale for readability. Labels highlight a small set of major economies and notable outliers in the selected year.
Related context: PPP GDP of the world, electricity production, renewables electricity.
Energy-mix drivers: why grids and heat matter
Electricity and heat form the carbon “backdrop” for households, services, and industry. When power is coal-heavy, emissions rise across the economy. Electrification (including EVs) delivers the largest CO₂ cuts when the grid is decarbonizing at the same time.
- Coal-heavy grids tend to dominate the high per-capita tail.
- Gas-based systems can be lower than coal but remain high where consumption is large.
- Low-carbon power (hydro/nuclear/wind/solar) often produces below-trend outcomes at higher incomes.
- Export processing (metals, cement, refining) can inflate territorial per-capita values.
Related industry context: global plastic production & waste management.
Methodology
Indicator. CO₂ emissions per capita (tonnes per person), territorial emissions from fossil fuels and industry. This is the Global Carbon Project-based series distributed by Our World in Data.
Edition year. The page is the 2025 edition, while the snapshot year is the newest year with broad country coverage in the official dataset (shown in the summary cards and selectable in the table controls).
Country set. ISO-3 coded countries only; aggregates/regions are excluded from the Top 100 ranking.
World average. Uses the “World” series from the same dataset for the selected year. Median country is computed across the displayed Top 100 values.
Scatter data. GDP per capita uses Our World in Data’s World Bank-based GDP per capita (PPP / international-$) series, matched by ISO-3 code for the same year. The x-axis is log-scaled to keep low- and high-income countries readable together.
Limitations
- Territorial vs consumption: emissions are counted where they occur, not where goods are consumed.
- Coverage varies by year: not every country has data for every year.
- Not land-use change: deforestation/reforestation CO₂ is not included in this indicator.
- Small-population sensitivity: a single industrial facility can move per-capita values sharply.
FAQ
Does “CO₂ per capita” include methane or other greenhouse gases?
No. This ranking is CO₂ only, focused on fossil fuels and industry. Other greenhouse gases have different sector drivers and require separate datasets.
Why can a country be high per capita but not large in global emissions?
Per-capita values scale by population. A small country with energy-intensive industry can rank very high per person while contributing a modest share of global totals.
Why do exporter economies look extreme in territorial data?
Territorial accounting assigns emissions to the producing country. If a country refines fuel, smelts metals, or produces materials for export, those emissions raise its per-capita number even if domestic consumption is not exceptional.
Do EVs automatically lower CO₂ per capita?
EVs shift energy use from liquid fuels to electricity. The emissions outcome depends on how clean the grid is and how fast it is decarbonizing.
Why is the page labeled “2025” if the dataset year is earlier?
“2025” is the edition label for a current snapshot. The ranking uses the newest official year with broad country coverage in the published dataset, and you can switch years in the controls.
Sources
The ranking and charts are built from the following primary sources and their published chart APIs/metadata.
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co-emissions-per-capita
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co-emissions-per-capita.metadata.json
https://www.iea.org/reports/global-energy-review-2025/co2-emissions
Download data & charts (ZIP)
This archive contains the tables and exported chart images used on this page: Top 100 table (CSV), Top 20 table (CSV), Top 20 bar chart (PNG), and CO₂ vs GDP scatter (PNG).
- top100_co2_per_capita_YYYY.csv — full Top 100 ranking table
- top20_co2_per_capita_YYYY.csv — Top 20 subset used for the bar chart
- bar_top20_co2_per_capita_YYYY.png — exported bar chart image
- scatter_co2pc_vs_gdppc_YYYY.png — exported scatter plot image
