Trends in the use of biomass, energy, construction and other minerals show that while the economies of other regions of the world are becoming less resource-intensive over time, the Asia-Pacific economy is requiring more resources to produce one dollar of GDP as the economy grows (see figure 1.25). One factor behind this is the still-significant unmet needs of developing countries in the region. However, a large part can be attributed to economic growth strategies employed by countries. Notably, the region as a whole in 2008 used almost twice the input of resources'6 to create one unit of GDP as the global economy.