It’s not who you think.
When greenhouse gas emissions are given coverage in the media, it is usually in terms of total emissions by individual nations. Looking at the figures this way, China is the biggest polluter in the world, responsible for 30 percent of global emissions in 2024. The United States is second, with 13.5 percent, followed by India (7.5 percent), the European Union (7.0 percent), Russia (4.5 percent) and Japan (2.5 percent). Australia contributes just over 1.0 percent of global emissions.
So China is the big baddie, yes? Well, yes and no. China is the biggest polluter in absolute terms, but it comes well down the list when we look at per capital emissions (that is, emissions per person).
Looking at things this way, the country with the highest per capital emissions is Qatar, with 41.2 tonnes of CO2e per person per year. [CO2e is a measure of CO2, methane and nitrous oxide emissions, expressed as a single figure. Most statistics you read are measured in CO2e rather than just CO2, although this isn’t always made clear.]
After Qatar comes Kuwait (25.5 tonnes per person), Bahrain (20.7 tonnes), the UAE (20.1 tonnes) and Saudi Arabia (20.4 tonnes).
Then we get a bunch of developed nations, like Australia (14.5 tonnes), the United States (14.2 tonnes), Canada (13.4 tonnes), Russia (12.3 tonnes) and South Korea (11.3 tonnes).
It is only now that we get to China, with per capita emissions are 8.7 tonnes – far less than those of Australia and the petro-states. Next come Japan (7.7 tonnes) and Germany (6.8 tonnes), followed by the 27-nation European Union (5.4 tonnes). The UK comes in at 4.3 tonnes and France at 4.0.
Finally, we have the developing nations. India, despite now being the world’s most populous country, has per capita emissions of just 2.2 tonnes. Bangladesh’s figure is even lower: 0.62 tonnes.
And the nation with the lowest per capita emissions? That prize goes to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with just 0.35 tonnes per person. It narrowly edges out Burundi, Somalia and the Central Africa Republic, all on 0.07 tonnes.
Then, of course, there is the question of who is emitting those greenhouse gases within particular countries. In the US, Europe and Japan, the carbon footprint of the richest 10 percent of the population is 15 times greater than that of the poorest 10 percent. In China, South Africa, Brazil and India, the top 10 percent are emitting 30 to 40 times more than the bottom 10 percent! In fact, in China the emissions of the top 10 percent are greater than those of the bottom 70 percent, and in South Africa they are greater than the bottom 90 percent!
So when people say that China and India are the main polluters in the world, they are ignoring the real culprits. Those culprits are the wealthiest nations and the wealthiest people in those nations. The poor are definitely not responsible for global warming!
To see the per capital emissions of each of the world’s nations, click here.
