Consumption
per Capita
As world
population continues to expand, demand for copper tends to increase
as well, while remaining sensitive to variances in economic cycles,
changes in technology, and competition between materials for use in
applications.
Intensity
of Use (1996)
The intensity
of use for a material relates the demand (consumption) of that material
to economic activity (gross domestic product, or GDP).
More developed
regions of the world benefit from a well established infrastructure,
to which copper is an important contributor.
As less
developed regions expand their infrastructure, copper and other materials
will form the building blocks needed to increase living standards.
Source:
Consumption (of refined copper): ICSG; Gross Domestic Product: World
Bank; Population: United Nations. Using consumption of refined copper
as a measure of demand for a region may result in understating true
consumption for importing regions, and overstating consumption for exporting
regions.
