South Africa vs Sub-Saharan Africa: CO2 emissions from fossil-fuels, total
CO2 emissions from fossil-fuels, total over time
- South Africa
- Sub-Saharan Africa
How they compare
Sub-Saharan Africa currently reports 742,674 thousand metric tons against 499,016 thousand metric tons in South Africa, a difference of 243,658 thousand metric tons.
That makes Sub-Saharan Africa's figure about 1.5 times South Africa's.
Across all 50 years both countries report, Sub-Saharan Africa has been ahead every year.
South Africa ranks 1st and Sub-Saharan Africa ranks 2nd of 51 countries.
Sub-Saharan Africa has averaged higher in every one of the 5 decades both report.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | South Africa | Sub-Saharan Africa | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 120,727 thousand metric tons | 165,130 thousand metric tons | 44,403 thousand metric tons | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 1970s | 183,960 thousand metric tons | 303,043 thousand metric tons | 119,083 thousand metric tons | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 1980s | 304,301 thousand metric tons | 456,298 thousand metric tons | 151,997 thousand metric tons | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 1990s | 353,286 thousand metric tons | 503,808 thousand metric tons | 150,522 thousand metric tons | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 2000s | 411,556 thousand metric tons | 650,376 thousand metric tons | 238,819 thousand metric tons | Sub-Saharan Africa |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher co2 emissions from fossil-fuels, total, South Africa or Sub-Saharan Africa?
- Sub-Saharan Africa, at 742,674 thousand metric tons against 499,016 thousand metric tons in South Africa as of 2009.
- What is the difference in co2 emissions from fossil-fuels, total between South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa?
- 243,658 thousand metric tons, with Sub-Saharan Africa ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa?
- 50 years are reported by both, from 1960 to 2009.
- How do South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa rank globally for co2 emissions from fossil-fuels, total?
- South Africa ranks 1st and Sub-Saharan Africa ranks 2nd of 51 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site, published as CO2 emissions from fossil-fuels, total (thousand metric tons). Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
Fossil fuel is any hydrocarbon deposit that can be burned for heat or power, such as petroleum, coal, and natural gas. This is the sum total of all fossil fuel emissions (solid fuel consumption, liquid fuel consumption, gas fuel consumption, cement production and gas flaring). The U.S. Department of Energy’s carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC) calculates annual anthropogenic emissions from data on fossil fuel consumption (from the United Nations Statistics Division’s World Energy Data Set) and world cement manufacturing (from the U.S. Bureau of Mine’s Cement Manufacturing Data Set). Carbon dioxide emissions, often calculated and reported as elemental carbon, were converted to actual carbon dioxide mass by multiplying them by 3.664 (the ratio of the mass of carbon to that of carbon dioxide). Although estimates of global carbon dioxide emissions are probably accurate within 10 percent (as calculated from global average file chemistry and use), country estimates may have larger error bounds. Trends estimated from a consistent time series tend to be more accurate than individual values. Each year the CDIAC recalculates the entire time series since 1949, incorporating recent findings and corrections. Estimates exclude fuels supplied to ships and aircraft in international transport because of the difficulty of apportioning he fuels among benefitting countries. The ratio of carbon dioxide per unit of energy shows carbon intensity, which is the amount of carbon dioxide emitted as a result of using one unit of energy in the process of production.