The Nations Producing the Most Pollution

The primary measure of climate pollution by countries, regions, or organizations is greenhouse gas emissions expressed in CO2e. CO2e stands for “carbon dioxide equivalent,” a standard unit that combines and compares the global warming impact of different greenhouse gases. A small number of nations account for most of these emissions each year. The World Resources Institute reports, “The top three GHG emitters — China, the United States and India — contribute 42.6% total emissions, while the bottom 100 countries account for only 2.9%.”

Emissions include both the production and the use of energy, which is why the figures for Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Iran are high.

Total emissions are only one way to view climate pollution. The other is to look at emissions per person, which puts the totals in perspective, at least in terms of the economic activity of a nation’s population. The contrast is dramatic when the US is compared with India: per person, the US figure is seven times India’s. In the other direction, Saudi Arabia, the world’s third-largest oil producer, has a per-person figure of 24.1 tons, which is 45% higher than the US figure.

This analysis makes a critical point: without cutbacks in the use of fossil fuels such as coal in India and China, and a rapid shift to green energy in the US, the EU, and Japan, global greenhouse gas emissions will continue to grow.

Country	CO2e (million US tons)	CO2e per person (US tons)	Share of global emissions	Population (millions)
China	13,814	9.6	30.5%	1,447
United States	5,786	16.6	12.8%	347
India	3,618	2.4	8%	1,464
European Union	2,730	6.1	6%	449
Russia	2,432	16.9	5.4%	144
Iran	1,107	12.0	2.4%	92
Japan	1,105	8.9	2.4%	123
Indonesia	1,058	3.7	2.3%	286
Saudi Arabia	834	24.1	1.8%	35
Canada	677	16.9	1.5%	40
South Korea	674	13.0	1.5%	52
Brazil	593	2.8	1.3%	213
Mexico	589	4.4	1.3%	132
Turkey	554	6.3	1.2%	88
South Africa	547	8.5	1.2%	65
Australia	481	17.9	1.1%	27
Vietnam	462	4.5	1%	102
Iraq	384	8.2	0.8%	47
United Arab Emirates	379	33.4	0.8%	11
Kazakhstan	362	17.4	0.8%	21
Malaysia	362	10.0	0.8%	36
United Kingdom	356	5.1	0.8%	70
Thailand	326	4.5	0.7%	72
Egypt	308	2.6	0.7%	118
Algeria	292	6.2	0.6%	47
Top 25 total	39,829	7.2	88%	5,527
World	45,235	5.5	100%	8,232

Emissions data come from the Energy Institute’s Statistical Review of World Energy, using its series “Carbon Dioxide Equivalent Emissions from Energy, Process Emissions, Methane, and Flaring.” Population data come from FAOSTAT, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s statistics database. The figures are based on national censuses, and FAOSTAT labels 2024 through 2026 as projections.