Have you ever wondered why we persist in measuring the power of nations with GDP, an indicator born almost a century ago for a completely different world? While we obsessively look at economic graphs increasingly distorted by technology, the real revolution is taking place elsewhere: in the gigantic data centers that devour electricity as if there were no tomorrow. Theenergy per capita is emerging as the true currency of the future, the one that will determine which countries will prosper in the age of artificial intelligence and robotics.
E data and rankings of this parameter reveal disconcerting surprises: it is not giants like China and the United States that are leading the race, but small states like Qatar, Kuwait and Norway, with a per capita energy capacity that potentially makes them the dominators of tomorrow.
The New World of Energy Per Capita
Our old yardsticks, as mentioned, are collapsing under the weight of technological innovation. GDP might have made sense in a primarily manufacturing economy, but in a world where technological deflation constantly drives down prices, it becomes an increasingly misleading indicator. Think about it: we consume more video, music and communications than ever before, yet their contribution to GDP is continually decreasing because, “dematerialized” as they are, they cost less and less.
THEenergy per capita, on the contrary, measures a fundamental physical resource, one that will power the data centers and artificial intelligence systems that are becoming the beating heart of advanced economies. It is no coincidence that tech companies are building dedicated power plants (even small nuclear reactors) next to their data centers, because existing power grids can no longer handle the load.
The implications are enormous.: Countries with abundant energy per capita could become tomorrow's superpowers, regardless of their size or industrial traditions.
The ranking that no one expected
China produces more energy in total than any other country: 134,6 exajoules. The United States follows with 103,8 EJ. But these absolute numbers only tell half the story. When we look at energy per capita, the rankings flip completely:
Qatar: ~1.200 gigajoules
Kuwait: ~900 gigajoule
United Arab Emirates: ~700 gigajoules
Norway: ~650 gigajoules
Saudi Arabia: ~600 gigajoules
It makes me smile to think about how the perspective changes: China, despite being the world leader in total energy production, plummets to around 50th place in terms of energy per capita. The United States, the undisputed superpower, is only 13th. And countries we rarely associate with the technological frontier find themselves at the top of the list.
Energy per capita means rethinking money
Money, after all, what is it if not stored energy? We use capital to purchase energy, whether it is embodied in products (which require energy to be manufactured) or in services (which represent human energy). With the advent of AI and robotics, we are essentially replacing energy derived from (human) calories with electricity.
Countries that currently export energy may soon start consuming it domestically. Imagine how many data centers Qatar could power without increasing its energy production! The same goes for Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Norway, all of which have huge excess capacity.
The future belongs to the energy giants
The real question is no longer how many AI chips a country can produce, but how much energy it can generate to power them. Countries with higher energy availability per capita will have a competitive advantage insaving of the future, being able to host more data centers, train more AI models and automate more processes.
This perspective completely redraws the geopolitical map that we are used to considering. It will not necessarily be the most populous countries or those with the highest GDP that will prosper, but those that can guarantee their citizens the greatest amount of energy per capita.
And while we continue to argue about GDP, economic growth and traditional indicators, the real game for future global dominance is already being played out in the oil fields of the Middle East, in Norwegian hydroelectric plants and in nascent nuclear power projects. Whoever has more energy per capita will, quite simply, have the future in their hands.
