China’s Ecological Footprint
China’s total Ecological Footprint has dramatically increased in the past 15 years and surpassed that of the United States in the early 2000s. China is now the nation with the world’s largest total Ecological Footprint. Two factors that drive increasing total Ecological Footprint are increasing per capita Ecological Footprint (a measure of increasing consumption) and population growth.
It is widely known that China has the world’s largest population. Over the last 30 years, however, China’s population growth rate has stabilized and started to decrease.
On a per capita basis, China’s Ecological Footprint ranked 81st in the world, at 2.5 gha. This is less than the world average per capita Ecological Footprint of 2.7 gha but still larger than the world average biocapacity available per person, 1.7 gha. If everybody lived like the average Chinese, we would need 1.5 Earths.
Chinese Ecological Footprint Reports
WWF China Ecological Footprint Report 2014 [Downloads]
WWF China Ecological Footprint Report 2012 [Downloads]
WWF China Ecological Footprint Report 2010 [Downloads]