Lithium
Essential for rechargeable batteries used in electric vehicles, portable electronics, and grid-scale energy storage. Demand has surged with the global EV transition.
Where Lithium sits among tracked minerals
Share of global output from the #1 producing country, across all 20 minerals PlainCountries tracks
47.8% 10th of 20 higher than 10 of 20 tracked minerals
Top-producer share of global output, bucketed by value
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more tracked minerals. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2024 · 2023 data year
Global Production Overview
Nearby Critical Minerals by leader share
Next read: Rare Earth Elements · All minerals
Why Lithium supply looks concentrated
Lithium sits in the high-concentration tercile of this 20-mineral desk, per the concentration figures above. Lithium is tagged as a critical mineral in this corpus, governments track production geography because a shortage or export restriction can ripple through clean-energy and defense chains. Essential for rechargeable batteries used in electric vehicles, portable electronics, and grid-scale energy storage. Demand has surged with the global EV transition. Global mine production in 2023 was about 180,000 (metric tons (Li content)). 6 countries appear in the table below.
USGS does not publish a single net-import-reliance percentage for Lithium in this release; use the country production table and the linked country profiles for exposure context. Top-five share is 98% (Australia, Chile, China, Argentina, Brazil). On a high-concentration mineral, an outage or export curb in the leader moves availability faster than on a diffuse desk.
Next comparable critical mineral on this desk by leader-share distance: Rare Earth Elements (~69% leader share). Cite USGS MCS 2024 (data year 2023) when you reuse any figure, we do not impute missing rows.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which country produces the most Lithium?
Australia is the world's leading producer of Lithium, accounting for approximately 48% of global mine production in 2023.
How is Lithium used?
Essential for rechargeable batteries used in electric vehicles, portable electronics, and grid-scale energy storage. Demand has surged with the global EV transition.
What is global Lithium production?
Global mine production of Lithium was approximately 180,000 in 2023, measured in metric tons (Li content).
How reliant is the US on imported Lithium?
US import reliance data for Lithium is not published as a single percentage in this release. Refer to the USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries for current estimates.
Source: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2024 (U.S. Geological Survey, National Minerals Information Center). Source: USGS National Minerals Information Center, data year 2023. Values are USGS estimates and may include revisions. US import reliance data from USGS.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.