Mining
Ranked: The World’s Top Diamond Mining Countries, by Carats and Value
Ranked: World Diamond Mining By Country, Carat, and Value
Only 22 countries in the world engage in rough diamond production—also known as uncut, raw or natural diamonds—mining for them from deposits within their territories.
This chart, by Sam Parker illustrates the leaders in rough diamond production by weight and value. It uses data from Kimberly Process (an international certification organization) along with estimates by Dr. Ashok Damarupurshad, a precious metals and diamond specialist in South Africa.
Rough Diamond Production, By Weight
Russia takes the top spot as the world’s largest rough diamond producer, mining close to 42 million carats in 2022, well ahead of its peers.
Russia’s large lead over second-place Botswana (24.8 million carats) and third-ranked Canada (16.2 million carats) indicates that the country’s diamond production is circumventing sanctions due to the difficulties in tracing a diamond’s origin.
Here’s a quick breakdown of rough diamond production in the world.
Rank | Country | Rough Diamond Production (Carats) |
---|---|---|
1 | 🇷🇺 Russia | 41,923,910 |
2 | 🇧🇼 Botswana | 24,752,967 |
3 | 🇨🇦 Canada | 16,249,218 |
4 | 🇨🇩 DRC | 9,908,998 |
5 | 🇿🇦 South Africa | 9,660,233 |
6 | 🇦🇴 Angola | 8,763,309 |
7 | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | 4,461,450 |
8 | 🇳🇦 Namibia | 2,054,227 |
9 | 🇱🇸 Lesotho | 727,737 |
10 | 🇸🇱 Sierra Leone | 688,970 |
11 | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | 375,533 |
12 | 🇧🇷 Brazil | 158,420 |
13 | 🇬🇳 Guinea | 128,771 |
14 | 🇨🇫 Central African Republic | 118,044 |
15 | 🇬🇾 Guyana | 83,382 |
16 | 🇬🇭 Ghana | 82,500 |
17 | 🇱🇷 Liberia | 52,165 |
18 | 🇨🇮 Cote D'Ivoire | 3,904 |
19 | 🇨🇬 Republic of Congo | 3,534 |
20 | 🇨🇲 Cameroon | 2,431 |
21 | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | 1,665 |
22 | 🇲🇱 Mali | 92 |
Total | 120,201,460 |
Note: South Africa’s figures are estimated.
As with most other resources, (oil, gold, uranium), rough diamond production is distributed unequally. The top 10 rough diamond producing countries by weight account for 99.2% of all rough diamonds mined in 2022.
Diamond Mining, by Country
However, higher carat mined doesn’t necessarily mean better value for the diamond. Other factors like the cut, color, and clarity also influence a diamond’s value.
Here’s a quick breakdown of diamond production by value (USD) in 2022.
Rank | Country | Rough Diamond Value (USD) |
---|---|---|
1 | 🇧🇼 Botswana | $4,975M |
2 | 🇷🇺 Russia | $3,553M |
3 | 🇦🇴 Angola | $1,965M |
4 | 🇨🇦 Canada | $1,877M |
5 | 🇿🇦 South Africa | $1,538M |
6 | 🇳🇦 Namibia | $1,234M |
7 | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | $424M |
8 | 🇱🇸 Lesotho | $314M |
9 | 🇸🇱 Sierra Leone | $143M |
10 | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | $110M |
11 | 🇨🇩 DRC | $65M |
12 | 🇧🇷 Brazil | $30M |
13 | 🇱🇷 Liberia | $18M |
14 | 🇨🇫 Central African Republic | $15M |
15 | 🇬🇾 Guyana | $14M |
16 | 🇬🇳 Guinea | $6M |
17 | 🇬🇭 Ghana | $3M |
18 | 🇨🇲 Cameroon | $0.25M |
19 | 🇨🇬 Republic of Congo | $0.20M |
20 | 🇨🇮 Cote D'Ivoire | $0.16M |
21 | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | $0.10M |
22 | 🇲🇱 Mali | $0.06M |
Total | $16,290M |
Note: South Africa’s figures are estimated. Furthermore, numbers have been rounded and may not sum to the total.
Thus, even though Botswana only produced 59% of Russia’s diamond weight in 2022, it had a trade value of nearly $5 billion, approximately 1.5 times higher than Russia’s for the same year.
Another example is Angola, which is ranked 6th in diamond production, but 3rd in diamond value.
Both countries (as well as South Africa, Canada, and Namibia) produce gem-quality rough diamonds versus countries like Russia and the DRC whose diamonds are produced mainly for industrial use.
Which Regions Produce the Most Diamonds in 2022?
Unsurprisingly, Africa is the largest rough diamond producing region, accounting for 51% of output by weight, and 66% by value.
Rank | Region | Share of Rough Diamond Production (%) | Share of Rough Diamond Value (%) |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Africa | 51.4% | 66.4% |
2 | Europe | 34.9% | 32.9% |
3 | North America | 13.5% | 52.8% |
4 | South America | 0.2% | 2.4% |
However diamond mining in Africa is a relatively recent phenomenon, fewer than 200 years old. Diamonds had been discovered—and prized—as far back as 2,000 years ago in India, later on spreading west to Egyptian pharaohs and the Roman Empire.
By the start of the 20th century, diamond production on a large scale took off: first in South Africa, and decades later in other African countries. In fact between 1889–1959, Africa produced 98% of the world’s diamonds.
And in the latter half of the 20th century, the term blood diamond evolved from diamonds mined in African conflict zones used to finance insurgency or crime.

This article was published as a part of Visual Capitalist's Creator Program, which features data-driven visuals from some of our favorite Creators around the world.
Mining
Ranked: How Key Commodities Have Performed Since 2019
Coffee and gold are among the best performing key commodities in recent years.

Ranked: How Key Commodities Have Performed Since 2019
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
Commodities have experienced significant volatility over the past several years, driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions, and geopolitical tensions.
In this graphic, we rank 11 key commodities by their annual performance since 2019.
Data and Key Takeaways
The numbers we used to create this graphic are listed in the table below.
Commodity | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
🏗️ Aluminum | -3% | 10% | 42% | -15% | 0% | 7% |
🛢️ Brent Oil | 22% | -22% | 53% | 9% | -10% | -3% |
☕ Coffee | 27% | -1% | 76% | -26% | 13% | 70% |
⚙️ Copper | 4% | 26% | 26% | -14% | 2% | 3% |
🌽 Corn | 3% | 25% | 23% | 14% | -31% | -3% |
🔥 Gas | -34% | 16% | 42% | 4% | -27% | 32% |
🏅 Gold | 18% | 25% | -4% | 0.4% | 15% | 26% |
⛏️ Iron Ore | 34% | 70% | -28% | -1% | 23% | -24% |
⛏️ Nickel | 32% | 18% | 25% | 45% | -44% | -8% |
🌱 Soybeans | 7% | 40% | 1% | 14% | -15% | -23% |
🍬 Sugar | 12% | 15% | 22% | 6% | 3% | -6% |
Java Prices Surge ☕
Like many other agricultural commodities, coffee bean prices have seen huge swings in recent years. This volatility is usually due to climate challenges in leading export countries such as Brazil and Vietnam.
Brazil, which grows arabica beans, suffered a severe drought in 2024 which amplified fires, interrupted hydro power, and parched crops.
During the same year, Vietnam’s coffee trees were negatively impacted by heat waves which shrink the size of coffee cherries (the fruit that contains the coffee bean). Vietnam is the world’s top supplier of robusta beans, which is commonly used for instant coffee.
Gold Also On the Rise 🥇
Gold has been a top performing commodity over the past two years, after weaker performance in the post-COVID years of 2021 and 2022.
This is being driven by several factors:
- High demand from central banks: Central banks (emphasis on China’s) have been building their gold reserves to diversify away from the U.S. dollar
- Geopolitical tensions: Global conflicts and trade wars are making safe-haven assets like gold more attractive
- Inflation concerns: Gold is also viewed as a hedge against inflation, further bolstering its demand
Learn More on the Voronoi App 
If you enjoy graphics like these, check out The World’s Biggest Cocoa Producers on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.
-
Maps6 days ago
Mapped: The Top Import Partner of Every U.S. State
-
Misc3 weeks ago
Visualizing the Global Population in 2035, by Generation
-
Demographics2 weeks ago
Charted: The Countries that Speak the Most Languages
-
War2 weeks ago
The 10 Most Powerful Air Forces in the World
-
Money2 weeks ago
Visualizing How Americans Spend Their Money
-
Markets3 weeks ago
Ranked: The World’s 50 Most Profitable Companies in 2024
-
Demographics2 weeks ago
Visualizing the World’s Super-Aged Societies
-
War4 weeks ago
Global Nuclear Warhead Stockpiles (1945-2024)