Material stocks of buildings, infrastructure, machinery and other short-lived products form the biophysical basis of production and consumption. They are a crucial lever for resource efficiency and a sustainable circular economy, and for climate change mitigation. Here, we provide a global, country-level database of national-level material stocks differentiated by four end-uses and four summary material groups, for 177 countries from 1900 to 2016.

This MAT_STOCKS database is derived from the economy-wide, dynamic, inflow-driven stock-flow model of Material Inputs, Stocks and Outputs (MISO2) (Wiedenhofer et al. 2024). MISO2 covers 14 supply chain processes from raw material extraction to processing, trade, recycling and waste management, as well as 13 end-use types of stocks. Further information on the model and its system definition, as well as the model input data and assumptions and data processing procedures can be found in the accompanying peer-reviewed publication. The model code and exemplary input data can be found in the GitHub repository. 

The MAT_STOCKS database version 1.0 provided here is summarized from the more detailed modeling presented in (Wiedenhofer et al. 2024). The dataset here gives:

• Material stocks by 4 main end-uses: buildings, infrastructure, machinery and other short-lived products (summarized from 13 detailed end-uses modeled)
• Material stocks and flows by 4 main material groupings: biomass, non-metallic minerals, metals, as well as fossil-fuels derived materials (summarized from 23 raw materials and 20 stock-building materials modeled)
• Flows: Gross Additions to Stocks and End-of-Life/Waste potentials
• 177 countries
• 1900 to 2016 

All units in kilotons. Paramter names are in accordance with the system definition given in the publication.

Additionally, this repository includes all data presented in the figures of the related journal article.

Further information

This dataset complements the following scientific article:

Wiedenhofer, Dominik and Streeck, Jan and Wieland, Hanspeter and Grammer, Benedikt and Baumgart, Andre and Plank, Barbara and Helbig, Christoph and Pauliuk, Stefan and Haberl, Helmut and Krausmann, Fridolin. "From Extraction to End-uses and Waste Management: Modelling Economy-wide Material Cycles and Stock Dynamics Around the World". Journal of Industrial Ecology (2024)

A preprint of this article can be found here:

Wiedenhofer, Dominik and Streeck, Jan and Wieland, Hanspeter and Grammer, Benedikt and Baumgart, Andre and Plank, Barbara and Helbig, Christoph and Pauliuk, Stefan and Haberl, Helmut and Krausmann, Fridolin, From Extraction to End-uses and Waste Management: Modelling Economy-wide Material Cycles and Stock Dynamics Around the World (First published: 12 November 2024). Journal of Industrial Ecology, https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.13575

The model code and its documentation are available on Github and Zenodo (see links below). For further information please see the publications. You can also contact Dominik Wiedenhofer dominik.wiedenhofer(a)boku.ac.at and visit our website to learn more about our project: MAT_STOCKS - Understanding the Role of Material Stock Patterns for the Transformation to a Sustainable Society.

Funding

This work was supported by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (MAT_STOCKS, grant agreement No 741950), and the European Union's Horizon Europe programme (CircEUlar, grant agreement No 101056810). Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or granting authorities.