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Economy-wide material flow accounts: documentation of statistics

13.11.2024 valid documentation

Basic data of the statistics

Data description

Economy-wide material flow accounts describe in tonnes the volume of materials extracted, transferred or transformed from nature. The statistics cover all solid, gaseous and liquid materials, excluding flows of air and water. The statistics provide an overview of changes in the volume of materials burdening the environment, and the development of the entire national economy’s material dependency compared to the gross domestic product and population. Detailed data on material flows also form a good basis for a more precise analysis of the economy-wide material flow accounts.

The statistics constitute part of environmental accounts.

Statistical population

The source data concerning all sectors of the economy are adjusted into a balanced whole. 
 

Statistical unit

Economy-wide material flow accounts describe in units of mass (tonnes) the volume of materials extracted, transferred or transformed from nature.

Unit of measure

The unit of measure is millions of tonnes.
 

Reference period

The reference period is a year. The statistics are published at a lag of 12 months from the end of the statistical reference year.
 

Reference area

The statistics cover the whole of Finland as a single area. The statistics do not include regional classifications.
 

Sector coverage

The statistics cover all solid, gaseous and liquid materials extracted, transferred or transformed from nature, excluding flows of air and water.

Time coverage

The statistics cover the period between 1970-2020, and with a more spesific classification from 2010-
 

Frequency of dissemination

The statistics are published once a year on Statistics Finland’s website.
 

Concepts

Direct material input (DMI)

Direct material input (DMI) includes materials extracted from Finland and materials imported to Finland from abroad.

DMI = DE + IMP

Domestic extraction (DE)

Domestic extraction (DE) refers to materials extracted from domestic nature for further processing in the economy. They can be divided into biomass, metal ores, non-metallic minerals and fossil energy materials.

Domestic hidden flows / Unused domestic extraction

Domestic hidden flows / Unused domestic extraction refer to moves and transformations of natural materials that are made in connection with their extraction from nature or construction. Examples of these would be logging waste left in forests, and unused wall rock of ore mines. Hidden flows are included in total material requirement.

Domestic material consumption (DMC)

Domestic material consumption (DMC) takes into account not only direct domestic inputs, i.e. materials extracted from domestic nature, but also materials imported from abroad as raw materials or processed products and those exported abroad. DMC is one of the UN sustainable development indicators.

DMC = DE + IMP – EXP

Domestic raw material consumption (RMC)

Domestic raw material consumption (RMC) measures the domestic final use of raw materials including domestic and imported raw material equivalents. It is calculated by adding imported raw materials to domestic direct inputs and, respectively, by subtracting the raw material equivalents of exported raw materials and processed products, i.e. the inputs required in the country to produce the imported or exported volume of materials. It is a more accurate description of burdens on the environment than domestic material consumption and also a more sensible indicator for comparisons between countries.

RMC = DE + IMPrme – EXPrme

Economy-wide material flow accounts (EW-MFA)

Economy-wide material flow accounts describe the volumes of materials extracted, transferred or transformed from domestic nature, raw materials and processed products imported from abroad, and exports of raw materials and processed products. The statistics describe all solid, gaseous and liquid materials with the exception of air and water. The statistics are consistent with the Economy-Wide Material Flow Accounting (EW-MFA) framework outlined in the EU Regulation on environmental accounting and in the UN Handbook on Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting.

Exports (EXP)

Exports (EXP) comprise of raw materials and processed products exported abroad.

Hidden flows of imports

Hidden flows of imports are comprised of the direct inputs and hidden flows which are used abroad to produce imported goods, but which do not show in the weight of imported raw materials or products. Hidden flows of imports are usually calculated with coefficients specific for each raw material or product group.

Imports (IMP)

Imports (IMP) consist of foreign imports of manufactured products and raw materials.

Material intensity

Material intensity describes the national economy's dependency on natural resources. It can be measured as the ratio of total material requirement, domestic material consumption or direct inputs to GDP. As material intensity decreases, the aim is to reach a situation where the state of the environment does not deteriorate as the economy grows. This is also known as decoupling of economic growth and environmental impacts. Domestic material consumption in relation to GDP is one of the sustainable development indicators (SDG).

= DMC/GDP

Physical trade balance (PTB)

The physical trade balance (PTB) is calculated as the difference between imports and exports of processed products and raw materials.

PTB = IMP-EXP

Raw material equivalents (RME)

In addition to the exported or imported volume of materials, raw material equivalents (RME) include the direct inputs required to produce the exported or imported volume of materials.

Raw material input (RMI)

Raw material input (RMI) is calculated by adding imported raw materials and processed products to domestic direct inputs, and the inputs needed to produce the imported volume of materials are also considered in the calculation.

RMI = DE + IMPrme

Resource productivity (RP)

Resource productivity (RP) is calculated as the ratio between gross domestic product and domestic material consumption. It shows how efficiently natural resources are utilised in relation to GDP. Resource productivity is one of the EU's sustainable development indicators.

RP = BKT/DMC

System of Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting (SEEA)

The System of Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting (SEEA) is a systematic description of the relationship between the environment and the economy. The accounts comprise of accounts and balances that describe the use volumes of natural resources, the loading caused by the use of natural resources, and the economy and business activity of environmental protection. The statistics of the System of Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting are compiled in the framework of national accounts in compliance with their key characteristics, such as the industrial classification and the classification of sectors and the domicile principle of economic units.

Total material requirement (TMR)

Total material requirement (TMR) is the sum of domestic and foreign direct inputs and hidden flows.

TMR = DE + domestic hidden flows + IMP + hidden flows of imports

Accuracy, reliability and timeliness

Overall accuracy

Most of the data are obtained directly from already published statistics. The coefficients used in the calculation of hidden flows in imports are mean values and cannot always (annually) account for all country-specific differences with an impact on the coefficients.

Timeliness

The statistics on economy-wide material flow accounts are published annually, with a lag of 12 months from the end of the statistical reference year.

Punctuality

There are no delays between the release calendar and the actual release date.
 

Sampling error

Total data are used in the statistics, whereby sampling errors do not occur. 
 

Comparability

Comparability - geographical

The statistics are comparable with the statistics of EU countries. The statistics are not produced outside the EU.
 

Comparability - over time

The statistics have been compiled from 1970 onwards. The data has been revised from 2010, and it is mostly comparable from 2010 onwards. There is a break between 2016 and 2017 concearning non-metallic minerals.
 

Coherence - cross domain

The statistics on economy-wide material flow accounts apply the EU regulation on European environmental economic accounts (Regulation (EU) No 691/2011) and the UN’s System of Environmental Economic Accounts (SEEA).
 

Source data and data collections

Source data

The data are collected from the statistics of Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) and the Finnish Customs, as well as from the data of INFRA – Infra Contractors’ Association in Finland, the Finnish Safety and Chemicals Agency (Tukes) and Statistics Finland’s energy statistics.

The data on domestic hidden flows are primarily based on the data of Luke and the Mining Register. The hidden flows related to imports are calculated with coefficients originally developed in the Wuppertal Institute in Germany and specified at the Thule Institute of the University of Oulu and at Statistics Finland.

Data collection

The economy-wide material flow accounts are statistics mainly derived from other statistics. Statistics Finland has a separate agreement with Tukes on the supply of data.
 

Frequency of data collection

The data are collected annually. The coefficients used in the calculation of hidden flows in imports are mean values and cannot annually account for all country-specific differences with an impact on the coefficients.
 

Methods

Data compilation

The source data are processed and edited coherently within the framework of environmental accounts.

Data validation

The received data are compared to previous data with the same content and any data related to the same topic.
 

Principles and outlines

Contact organisation

Statistics Finland

Contact organisation unit

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Legal acts and other agreements

The compilation of statistics is guided by the Statistics Act. The Statistics Act contains provisions on collection of data, processing of data and the obligation to provide data. Besides the Statistics Act, the Data Protection Act and the Act on the Openness of Government Activities are applied to processing of data when producing statistics. 

Statistics Finland compiles statistics in line with the EU’s regulations applicable to statistics, which steer the statistical agencies of all EU Member States.  

Further information: Statistical legislation 

The statistics on economy-wide material flow accounts are part of the framework of the System of Environmental Economic Accounts (SEEA), which monitors the interaction between the environment and the economy. EU Regulation on European environmental economic accounts (EU) No 691/2011, amended by Regulation (EU) No 538/2014, and its implementing regulation (EU) No 2174/2015 obligate EU Member States to compile statistics on the environmental goods and services sector as of 2014. The objective of environmental accounts is to provide a statistical description of the interaction between the environment and the economy which for the most part complies with the basic framework and classifications of national accounts.

Confidentiality - policy

The data protection of data collected for statistical purposes is guaranteed in accordance with the requirements of the Statistics Act (280/2004), the Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999), the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and the Data Protection Act (1050/2018). The data materials are protected at all stages of processing with the necessary physical and technical solutions. Statistics Finland has compiled detailed directions and instructions for confidential processing of the data. Employees have access only to the data essential for their duties. The premises where unit-level data are processed are not accessible to outsiders. Members of the personnel have signed a pledge of secrecy upon entering the service. Violation of data protection is punishable. 

Confidentiality - data treatment

According to the Statistics Act (280/2004), the data of the statistics are in the public domain.
The tables in the statistics are produced by using/editing a table’s classification on a level high or general enough to prevent the emergence of small cell frequencies. 

The Statistics Act (280/2004) defines the data on the number of enterprises as being in the public domain, which is why even small cell frequencies do not need to be protected. In quantity tables, cells containing few observations (threshold value) or dominated by one or two units (dominance rule) are protected by suppressing the value of the cell to prevent the data of an individual enterprise from being revealed. In addition, other cells have been suppressed to prevent the calculation of the primarily suppressing cell values with the help of marginal sums. The suppressed cells in released tables are marked by single quotation marks ’..’ (or another marking used by the statistics, such as StatFin two full stops). Further information on suppression is available in  the Handbook on Statistical Disclosure Control (2010).

The data of the statistics are not released in identifiable form outside Statistics Finland. The use of the data for scientific research and statistical surveys is possible only on the basis of a separate decision on user licence and in unidentifiable form. Further information about licences.

Release policy

Statistics Finland publishes new statistical data at 8 am on weekdays in its web service. The release times of statistics are given in advance in the release calendar available in the web service. The data are public after they have been updated in the web service. 

The statistics are released annually in October, some 10 months after the end of the statistical reference year in question.

Data sharing

The statistics on economy-wide material flow accounts are published on the predefined date online, on the statistics’ home page. The links on the home page lead to the description of the statistics, concepts and definitions as well as free of charge statistical database tables (StatFin). Eurostat publishes the data in the statistics on its own website.

Accessibility and clarity

Statistical data are published as database tables in the StatFin database. The database is the primary publishing site of data, and new data are updated first there. When releasing statistical data, existing database tables can be updated with new data or completely new database tables can be published. In addition to statistical data published in the StatFin database, a release on the key data is usually published in the web service. If the release contains data concerning several reference periods (e.g. monthly and annual data), a review bringing together these data is published in the web service. Database tables updated at the time of publication are listed both in the release and in the review. In some cases, statistical data can also be published as mere database releases in the StatFin database. No release or review is published in connection with these database releases. Releases and database tables are published in three languages, in Finnish, Swedish and English. The language versions of releases may have more limited content than in Finnish. Information about changes in the publication schedules of releases and database tables and about corrections are given as change releases in the web service.
The statistics on the economy-wide material flow accounts are published on the predefined date online, on the home page
of the statistics. The links on the home page lead to the description of the statistics, concepts and definitions as well as free of charge statistical database tables (StatFin). Eurostat publishes the data in the statistics on its own website.

Data revision - policy

Revisions – i.e. improvements in the accuracy of statistical data already published – are a normal feature of statistical production and result in improved quality of statistics. The principle is that statistical data are based on the best available data and information concerning the statistical phenomenon. On the other hand, the revisions are communicated as transparently as possible in advance. Advance communication ensures that the users can prepare for the data revisions.

The reason why data in statistical releases become revised is often caused by the data becoming supplemented. Then the new, revised statistical figure is based on a wider information basis and describes the phenomenon more accurately than before.

Revisions of statistical data may also be caused by the calculation method used, such as annual benchmarking or updating of weight structures. Changes of base years and used classifications may also cause revisions to data.

Quality assessment

The quality of the data is assessed at several different stages of the statistical process.
The OSF quality criteria and Recommendation on Quality Description
 

Quality assurance

Quality management requires comprehensive guidance of activities. The quality management framework of the field of statistics is the European Statistics Code of Practice (CoP). The quality criteria of Official Statistics of Finland are compatible with the European Statistics Code of Practice. 

The statistics on the economy-wide material flow accounts constitute official statistics. The Official Statistics of Finland (OSF) are a comprehensive collection of statistics describing the development and state of society. They comprise nearly 300 sets of statistics on 26 different topics. The producers of Official Statistics of Finland have approved a common quality assurance in which they commit to common quality criteria and quality assurance measures. The quality criteria of Official Statistics of Finland are compatible with the European Statistics Code of Practice. The good practices followed in the statistics are presented in Statistics Finland’s Quality Guidelines for Official Statistics handbook.

User access

Data are released to all users at the same time. Statistical data may only be handled at Statistics Finland and information on them may be given before release only by persons involved in the production of the statistics concerned or who need the data of the statistics concerned in their own work before the data are published.

Further information: Publication principles for statistics

Unless otherwise separately stated in connection with the product, data or service concerned, Statistics Finland is the producer of the data and the owner of the copyright. The terms of use for statistical data.