Lithium Production by Country

Lithium production by country measures how much lithium each country produces, expressed in tonnes. The figures refer to mine production of lithium, reported as lithium content, in line with the underlying sources. The statistics combine an Our World in Data series for the earlier years, built from the USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries and the BGS World Mineral Statistics, with 2024 and 2025 estimates taken directly from the USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026. The table below lists 10 countries with recorded lithium production during the period. Individual 2025 estimates are available for 9 countries, which produced a combined 288,380 tonnes in 2025, slightly below the reported World total of 290,000 tonnes in the source. Mali appears with 2024-2025 data from the source without an earlier series, and Namibia keeps its last available value from the earlier series (2,700 tonnes in 2024).

Countries With the Largest Lithium Production in 2025

Australia produced the most lithium in 2025 with 92,000 tonnes. China ranked second with 62,000, followed by Chile (56,000), Zimbabwe (28,000), Argentina (23,000), and Brazil (12,000). Mali (9,400), Canada (5,600), and Portugal (380) complete the list.

Lithium Production by Country

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#	Country	Latest Data (tonnes)	Year
1	Australia AU	92,000	2025
2	China CN	62,000	2025
3	Chile CL	56,000	2025
4	Zimbabwe ZW	28,000	2025
5	Argentina AR	23,000	2025
6	Brazil BR	12,000	2025
7	Mali ML	9,400	2025
8	Canada CA	5,600	2025
9	Namibia NA	2,700	2024
10	Portugal PT	380	2025

Australia alone accounted for about 32 percent of the World total in 2025, and Australia and China together for about 53 percent; the top three countries accounted for about 72 percent. Australia's production was about 1.5 times that of China. Six countries produced at least 10,000 tonnes in 2025.

Lithium Production Around the World

In Oceania, Australia (92,000) is the largest producer. In Asia, China (62,000) leads. In South America, Chile (56,000) leads, ahead of Argentina (23,000) and Brazil (12,000).

In Africa, Zimbabwe (28,000) leads, ahead of Mali (9,400); Namibia (2,700, 2024) carries the last available value from the earlier series. In North America, Canada (5,600) is the only listed producer. In Europe, Portugal (380) is the only producer; the United States is listed in the source as withheld (W).

Largest Changes in Lithium Production, 2024-2025

China recorded the largest increase, rising from 41,400 tonnes in 2024 to 62,000 in 2025 (up 20,600, about 50 percent). Australia rose from 82,700 to 92,000 (up 9,300, about 11 percent), Argentina from 13,800 to 23,000 (up 9,200, about 67 percent), Zimbabwe from 20,000 to 28,000 (up 8,000, about 40 percent), Chile by 7,100, Mali from 770 to 9,400 (more than tenfold), Brazil by 1,800, and Canada by 780.

Portugal held its level at 380 tonnes. The World total rose from 222,000 to 290,000 tonnes (up 68,000, about 31 percent). China contributed 20,600 tonnes of the increase, with Australia and Argentina adding 9,300 and 9,200 tonnes respectively.

The 2024 figures in this release are revised from earlier values, most notably Argentina (revised down from 18,000 to 13,800 tonnes), Australia (down from 88,000 to 82,700), Zimbabwe (down from 22,000 to 20,000), Canada (up from 4,300 to 4,820), and China (up from 41,000 to 41,400).

Lithium Production by Country

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#	Country	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
1	Australia	39,700	55,300	74,700	91,700	82,700	92,000
2	Chile	21,500	28,300	38,000	41,400	48,900	56,000
3	China	13,300	14,000	22,600	35,700	41,400	62,000
4	Argentina	5,900	5,970	6,590	8,630	13,800	23,000
5	Namibia	-	-	-	2,700	2,700	-
6	Brazil	1420	1700	2,630	5,260	10,200	12,000
7	Mali	-	-	-	-	770	9,400
8	Zimbabwe	417	710	1030	14,900	20,000	28,000
9	Portugal	348	900	380	380	380	380
10	Canada	-	0	520	3,240	4,820	5,600

Methodology

The earlier figures come from Our World in Data, which compiles national lithium production figures from the USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries, the USGS Historical Statistics for Mineral and Material Commodities, and the BGS World Mineral Statistics, with major processing by Our World in Data; USGS data is prioritized, with BGS data used to supplement it. The 2024 and 2025 figures are estimates from the USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 where available; Namibia keeps its last available Our World in Data value and Mali carries 2024-2025 values only. Values refer to mine production of lithium (in terms of lithium content as reported by the source), in tonnes, and 2025 figures are preliminary estimates from the source. The source lists the United States as withheld (W) to avoid disclosing company proprietary data, which is why no U.S. value is included in the table. The sum of individually reported country estimates does not equal the reported World total because the source applies rounding and other adjustments at the country and World levels. In the table, a zero reflects no production, while an empty cell means that no value was reported.