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Germany CO2 emissions per capita, 1970 to 2024

Carbon dioxide emitted per person in Germany, in tonnes per year, from the World Bank. · updated Jul 2026

About this statistic

Germany CO2 emissions per capita stood at 7 in 2024, down 1.9% on the previous period.

Germany emitted 6.9 tonnes of carbon dioxide per person in 2024, against 7.1 the year before. The window's extremes are 15.2 tonnes in 1979 and 6.9 in 2024.

How it is measured

The figures come from the World Bank's World Development Indicators (indicator EN.GHG.CO2.PC.CE.AR5), compiled from the EDGAR emissions database. The count covers carbon dioxide from fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes such as cement, excludes land use and forestry, and is divided by midyear population. Emissions are attributed to the country where they physically occur, so goods manufactured for export count against the producer, not the consumer.

What the curve shows

Per-person terms are the fairness lens of climate accounting: totals track population size as much as behavior, while this measure asks what each person's economy emits. Germany's trajectory from 13.9 tonnes in 1970 to 6.9 in 2024 has already bent below its 1979 peak of 15.2, and where the peak sits in time says a lot about an economy: early peaks usually mean deindustrialization and efficiency, late ones mean industrialization still under way.

Frequently asked questions
What is included in the figure?
Carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels and from industrial processes such as cement. Land-use change and forestry are excluded, and other greenhouse gases like methane are tracked in separate indicators.
Do imported goods count against my country?
No. This is production-based accounting: emissions land where the smokestack is. A country that imports manufactured goods exports the emissions to the producer, which is why consumption-based accounts paint rich importers less favorably.
Other statistics on this topicAll Global development statistics →

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Germany CO2 emissions per capita — Kitegraph