Economy-wide material flow accounts
Contact info
National Accounts, Economic StatisticsAya Permin
+45 39 17 38 64
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The purpose of the Economy Wide-Material Flow Account (EW-MFA) is to provide an overview of the type and weight of the materials that are used in the Danish economy. RME expresses the amount of raw materials consumed on a global scale to produce the goods included in the EW-MFA. The EW-MFA includes published data from 1993 and the RME includes data from 2008.
Statistical presentation
The EW-MFA are an yearly measurement of the weight of Danish resource extraction, import and exports of goods and resources assigned to materials types. The RME further includes the amount of resources consumed on a global scale to produce the materials that are included in the EW-MFA.
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Statistical processing
The EW-MFA and the RME are compiled on the basis of internal sources on resource extraction, import and export The RME account is based on modelling.
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Relevance
Environmental Accounts are relevant for those interested in the correlation between the economy and natural resource consumption. The results are relevant for conducting analyses of sustainable resource consumption. Ministries and consultant firms are among the main users of environmental accounts. Accounts are included in the overall European environmental accounts, collected and compiled by Eurostat.
Accuracy and reliability
Information concerning the material flows in the form of the weights of some specific material types are based on conversion factors from other units to kilograms. For these types of materials some uncertainty is introduced by the conversion. Therefore, the information on the weights of materials is considered to be less accurate.
The RME are based on a relatively new calculation method involving model calculations and a vast number of assumptions and estimates. Accordingly, the figures are subject to a substantial degree of uncertainty and first and foremost reflect orders of magnitude.
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Timeliness and punctuality
Data is normally published without delays.
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Comparability
The Material Flow Accounts are compiled in the form of time series and is available for each year from 1993 until the last year that is published (from 2008 for the RME). The Material Flow Accounts are consistent and fully comparable within these years. Furthermore, the Material Flow accounts are comparable with the Material Flow Accounts of other EU countries compiled according to the Regulation no. 691/2011 on European environmental economic accounts.
Accessibility and clarity
These statistics are in a Danish press release. In the StatBank, these statistics can be found under the subject Material flows and waste. In addition the statistics has a subject page.