Cristina Frizza
The indicator quantifies the extraction of natural resources—biomass, metal ores, non-metallic minerals, and fossil fuels—globally, driven by final consumption and investments by households, businesses, and public administration in Italy. Italy has structurally reduced its material footprint, going from 17.8 to 11 tonnes per capita between 2008 and 2025, lower than the EU average (14.3 tonnes per capita). This result highlights significant progress in terms of efficiency and circularity. However, to ensure this competitive advantage is sustainable, the decoupling between economic growth and resource consumption must be consolidated.
For a more complete assessment of the material flows associated with the functioning of an economy, it is appropriate to consider, in addition to domestic material consumption and resource productivity, the flows required to produce imported and exported goods and services. These are indirect flows, that is, the part of the so-called ecological rucksack that is transformed into waste or emissions. A more comprehensive picture can be provided by expressing imports and exports in "equivalent (natural) material (utilized) resources," known in the international literature as "raw materials equivalents" (RME). The RME, for example, for a given quantity of grain traded abroad consists, in addition to the grain itself, also of what was needed to produce all the products (goods and services) used as inputs (intermediate consumption) in the cultivation activity, such as the oil used to produce the fuels used by agricultural machinery and the raw materials from which the fertilizers spread on the soil are derived. It is important to note that the portion of RME not physically contained in imported goods and services has become, abroad, residue returned to the natural environment or waste accumulated in landfills. This portion constitutes the indirect flow of imports. The same applies to exports. If, in addition to direct flows with foreign countries, we also consider indirect flows—that is, the resources extracted and used to produce the goods and services traded abroad—we obtain imports and exports in RME. The indicator measures the total quantity of raw materials extracted to satisfy the domestic demand of the economic system, i.e., it quantifies the extraction of natural resources—biomass, metallic minerals, non-metallic minerals, and fossil fuels—at a global level due to final consumption and investments by households, businesses, and the public administration in Italy.
Evaluate the quantity of raw materials used to meet domestic demand, providing a representation of the impact of resource use, including materials extracted domestically and those used indirectly abroad to produce the imported good.
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Documentation of the EU RME model. Eurostat, December 2025
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- Handbook for estimating raw material equivalents of imports and exports and RME- of imports and exports and RME based indicators on the country level – based on Eurostat's EU RME Eurostat model, December 2025 (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/1798247/6874172/Handbook-country-RME-tool
The estimates are derived from the application of an economic-environmental model made available by Eurostat. The model is susceptible to further developments given the ongoing international methodological comparisons for this type of estimate. The derived estimates are experimental statistics as they are subject to high statistical uncertainty.
Eurostat (Statistical Office of the European Communities)
National
2008-2025
Tons per capita of Material footprint
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The indicator estimate is based on the standard methodology defined by Eurostat, which combines the Material Flow Accounts (EW-MFA) with the Input-Output models extended to the environmental dimension (EEIO). This process allows us to quantify Raw Material Consumption (RMC) by adding to direct extraction from the national territory the overall requirement for raw materials (expressed in Raw Material Equivalents - RME) necessary to satisfy final consumption and investment demand. The reference calculation equation is as follows:
RMC = DE + RME (imports) - RME (exports)
In this model, DE defines the direct extraction of resources (biomass, minerals, fossils), while the RME imports and RME exports components account for the material footprint (withdrawal of resources at source) associated with trade flows of intermediate and finished goods.
In 2025, Italy's material footprint will be approximately 649 million tons, equal to 11 tons per capita. This value is lower than the EU average (14.3 tons per capita), confirming Italy's position among the European countries with the lowest intensity of material resource use relative to its population. This value partly reflects the national production structure, characterized by a relatively low proportion of material-intensive industries and a greater impact of the service sector and light manufacturing.
Between 2008 and 2025, Italy's material footprint recorded a significant reduction, going from over 1 billion tons (17.8 tons per capita) to approximately 650 million tons (11 tons per capita), with an overall decline of approximately –38.7% in absolute terms and –38.2% per capita, outlining a positive trend (Figure 1, Table 1).
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Table 1: Material footprint Fonte
Eurostat |
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Figure 1: Material footprint Fonte
Eurostat |
The material footprint is a key indicator for measuring the pressure the economic system exerts on the environment in terms of overall natural resources used, including not only materials extracted domestically but also those incorporated into goods and services imported from abroad. For this reason, it is an essential tool for assessing progress towards a circular economy model, capable of reducing dependence on primary resources and limiting the environmental impacts associated with material consumption. Available data for Italy highlight a significant and structural reduction in the material footprint. This trend reflects several factors: the effects of the 2008–2013 economic and financial crisis, which significantly reduced production and consumption; the growing diffusion of less material-intensive production models, partly linked to the transformation of the industrial fabric and the greater importance of the service sector; and the consolidation of recovery, recycling, and waste reduction practices, in line with the EU's circular economy objectives.