Istat regularly releases, through the institute data warehouse IstatData, data on the physical flows of the Italian economy compliant with EU Regulation 691/2011, consistent with national accounts economic data and therefore suitable for integrated economic-environmental analysis.
The released data specifically refer to material flows at the level of the entire economy, measured in thousand tons, with the exclusion of air and water. Aggregate reference indicators include direct material consumption (DMC), direct material input (DMI), physical trade balance (PTB), as well as domestic extraction of used materials (UMDEXT), imports (IMP) and exports (EXP) of materials to and from abroad. The historical series start from the year 1990.
Domestic material consumption (DMC), physical trade balance (PBT) and domestic extraction of used material by macro-category (UMDEXT) are released also for the Italian regions. At the regional level, net import (physical trade balance) represents the difference between material inflow, from abroad and from other Italian regions, and material outflow, to abroad and to other Italian regions. Regional series are updated to the year 2020, starting from the year 2015.
The “Domestic material consumption” indicator (DMC) is a measure of the amount of materials, directly used in a national or regional economy, which become part of the material stock within the economy or are released back to the environment. The DMC is calculated as the sum of internal extraction (UMDEXT) and net imports (PTB equal IMP-EXP).
This indicator is useful for defining and monitoring sustainable development policies in national and international contexts, monitoring materials used internally, released into the environment or accumulated in anthropogenic stocks, measuring the circular economy, and measuring equitable and sustainable well-being (BES).
In 2021, the DMC increases considerably compared to 2020 (about 10%), and appears to halt the downward trend recorded from 2006, returning to a level above 500 Mton, last recorded in 2013.
For more information, please refer to the metadata.
For information:
Division for Final demand, labour and capital input, environmental accounts
Aldo Femia
femia@istat.it
Flora Fullone
Territorial office for Southern regions
ffullone@istat.it