( dpa ) - Developing countries have contributed an increasing slice to the global economy in the last decade, putting a strain on the world's energy resources, according to a World Bank report issued Friday.
Developing nations now make up 41 per cent of the world's output up from 36 per cent in 2000 and make up five of the 12 largest economies, according to the bank's World Development Indicators. Total output reached 59 trillion dollars in 2006.
The data, based on new estimates of Purchasing Power Parity, show the developing world is "rapidly becoming a very significant part of the global economy," the World Bank's chief development economist Alan Gelb said.
That has left poorer nations with a "very difficult trade-off between development and energy needs," Gelb said.
East Asia's energy production alone has surged 280 per cent from 1990 to 2000 and now produces 3 trillion kilowatt hours of electricity, boosted mainly by needs in China.