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The primary sector of the economy includes any industry involved in the extraction and production of raw materials, such as farming, logging, fishing, forestry and mining.[1][2][3]
The primary sector tends to make up a larger portion of the economy in developing countries than it does in developed countries. For example, in 2018, agriculture, forestry, and fishing comprised more than 15% of GDP in sub-Saharan Africa[4] but less than 1% of GDP in North America.[5]
In developed countries the primary sector has become more technologically advanced, enabling for example the mechanization of farming, as compared with lower-tech methods[lower-alpha 1] in poorer countries.[6] More developed economies may invest additional capital in primary means of production: for example, in the United States corn belt, combine harvesters pick the corn, and sprayers spray large amounts of insecticides, herbicides and fungicides, producing a higher yield than is possible using less capital-intensive techniques. These technological advances and investment allow the primary sector to employ a smaller workforce, so developed countries tend to have a smaller percentage of their workforce involved in primary activities, instead having a higher percentage involved in the secondary and tertiary sectors.[7]
| Economy | Countries by agricultural output (in PPP terms) at peak level as of 2018 (billions in United States dollar )
| ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (01) |
2,101
| ||||||||
| (02) |
1,400
| ||||||||
| (03) |
486
| ||||||||
| (—) |
352
| ||||||||
| (04) |
284
| ||||||||
| (05) |
253
| ||||||||
| (06) |
209
| ||||||||
| (07) |
196
| ||||||||
| (08) |
185
| ||||||||
| (09) |
162
| ||||||||
| (10) |
155
| ||||||||
| (11) |
154
| ||||||||
| (12) |
109
| ||||||||
| (13) |
108
| ||||||||
| (14) |
108
| ||||||||
| (15) |
101
| ||||||||
| (16) |
100
| ||||||||
| (17) |
92
| ||||||||
| (18) |
89
| ||||||||
| (19) |
87
| ||||||||
| (20) |
84
| ||||||||
|
The twenty largest countries by agricultural output (in PPP terms) at peak level as of 2018, according to the IMF and CIA World Factbook. | |||||||||
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Categories: [Economic sectors] [National accounts]