Environmental Science 15th Edition by Scott Spoolman,Tyler Miller

Exercise 22

If the ecological footprint per person of a country or the world is larger than its biological capacity per person to replenish its renewable resources and absorb the resulting waste products and pollution, the country or the world is said to have an ecological deficit. If the reverse is true, the country or the world has an ecological credit or reserve. Use the data to the right to calculate the ecological deficit or credit for the countries listed. (As an example, this value has been calculated and filled in for World.)

Which three countries have the largest ecological deficits? For each of these countries, why do you think it has a deficit?