Lithium is a globally traded mineral whose importance is now concentrated in batteries. The latest supplied evidence spans 2023–2024 observed or estimated results, January 2025 resource assessments, company fiscal-year reporting, and explicitly labeled 2030 or 2050 scenarios.
Key Lithium Statistics
The following highlights cover the most useful production, demand, price, battery, supply-chain and recycling measures:
- In 2024, world lithium mine production was estimated at 204,000 metric tons of lithium content.
- In 2024, world lithium reserves were estimated at 30 million metric tons of lithium content.
- In January 2025, measured and indicated global lithium resources totaled about 115 million metric tons.
- In 2024, batteries accounted for an estimated 87% of global lithium end use.
- In 2023, global lithium demand rose 30% year over year.
- In 2023, global electric-car sales neared 14 million vehicles.
- In 2023, more than 40 GW of global battery-storage capacity was added.
- In 2023, lithium spot prices fell 75% in the global market measure described by the IEA.
- In 2024, lithium-ion battery-pack prices fell 20% globally, the largest annual drop since 2017.
- In 2024, global energy-sector battery demand reached 1 TWh.
- In 2024, global EV battery demand exceeded 950 GWh, 25% above 2023.
- In 2024, China held about 85% of global battery manufacturing capacity.
- In 2024, global battery-cell manufacturing capacity grew almost 30% to more than 3 TWh.
- In 2024, Arcadium Lithium reported 45,000 metric tons of lithium-hydroxide capacity and 22,297 metric tons of production.
- By 2050, recycling could reduce new mine-development needs by 25% for lithium and nickel in an IEA announced-pledges scenario.
Contents
- Key Lithium Statistics
- Global Lithium Production, Reserves and Resources
- Lithium Demand and End-Use Data
- Lithium Price and Battery-Cost Trends
- Lithium-Ion Battery and Electric-Vehicle Demand
- Lithium Supply-Chain and Company Statistics
- Lithium Recycling, Supply Security and Outlook
Global Lithium Production, Reserves and Resources
USGS figures distinguish lithium content from product mass and distinguish economically recoverable reserves from broader geologic resources. World mine production was estimated at 204,000 metric tons of lithium content in 2024, compared with 198,000 metric tons in 2023.
The same USGS summary estimated 30 million metric tons of world reserves in 2024, while its January 2025 assessment put measured and indicated global resources at about 115 million metric tons. Resources are not guaranteed future production, and the production estimate excludes some undisclosed output.
| Geography | 2024 lithium-content production | 2024 reserves or resource measure |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | 91,700 metric tons, estimated | 57 million metric tons reserves, estimated |
| Chile | 41,400 metric tons | 9.3 million metric tons reserves, estimated |
| China | 35,700 metric tons, estimated | 3 million metric tons reserves, estimated |
| Zimbabwe | 14,900 metric tons, estimated | — |
| Brazil | 5,260 metric tons, estimated | — |
| Canada | 3,240 metric tons, estimated | — |
| Namibia | 2,700 metric tons, estimated | — |
| Portugal | 380 metric tons | — |
Source: Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025: Lithium. USGS country production figures are lithium content; reserve figures are not annual production.
The United States had 19 million metric tons of measured and indicated resources in the January 2025 assessment. That estimate includes brines, claystone, geothermal brines, hectorite, oilfield brines and pegmatites, so it is not interchangeable with the 2024 reserve estimate.
Lithium Demand and End-Use Data
Batteries dominated the USGS estimate of global lithium end use in 2024. The categories below are estimated shares, not a direct shipment census.
| End use | Estimated share of global lithium end use | Assessment period |
|---|---|---|
| Batteries | 87% | 2024 |
| Ceramics and glass | 5% | 2024 |
| Lubricating greases | 2% | 2024 |
| Air treatment | 1% | 2024 |
| Medical applications | 1% | 2024 |
Source: Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025: Lithium.
The IEA reported that global lithium demand rose 30% in 2023, covering total lithium demand rather than only EV batteries. Demand growth occurred alongside nearly 14 million global electric-car sales, more than six times the 2018 level, and more than 40 GW of new global battery-storage capacity.
Source: Market review — Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2024. Electric-car sales and storage capacity are demand drivers, not direct measures of mined lithium consumption.
Lithium Price and Battery-Cost Trends
Lithium commodity prices and lithium-ion battery-pack prices are different measures. The IEA reported that lithium spot prices fell 75% in 2023, while lithium prices fell nearly 20% in 2024; the applicable benchmark or product specification is not a single universal price.
In 2024, lithium prices reached levels similar to the end of 2015 even though lithium demand was about six times larger than in 2015. This is an IEA qualitative price-level comparison and approximate demand multiple, not a newly calculated series.
| Battery-cost measure | 2024 change | Geography or scope |
|---|---|---|
| Lithium-ion battery-pack price | Down 20% | Global EV and storage sectors |
| Battery-pack price | Down nearly 30% | China |
| Battery-pack price | Down 10% to 15% | Europe and United States |
| LFP versus NMC price per kWh | LFP almost 30% cheaper | Global battery market |
Source: Electric vehicle batteries — Global EV Outlook 2025. Pack prices are volume-weighted averages across the stated applications and are not lithium commodity prices.
The 2024 global pack-price decline was the largest annual drop since 2017. Regional values combine locally produced and imported batteries, while chemistry averages vary by region and application.
Lithium-Ion Battery and Electric-Vehicle Demand
Global energy-sector battery demand reached 1 TWh in 2024, including EV batteries and battery storage. EV battery demand exceeded 950 GWh, 25% above 2023, using volume-weighted average battery size multiplied by vehicle sales by mode; stockpiling is excluded from the EV-demand calculation.
- Electric cars accounted for over 85% of global EV battery demand in 2024.
- Electric-truck battery demand grew over 75% in 2024 and reached nearly 3% of global EV battery demand.
- China’s EV battery demand grew by over 30% in 2024.
- United States EV battery demand grew by 20% in 2024.
- Emerging markets and developing economies outside China reached nearly 5% of global EV battery demand in 2024, double their 2022 share.
Source: Electric vehicle batteries — Global EV Outlook 2025.
Chemistry adoption also differed by market. LFP batteries made up nearly half of the global EV battery market in 2024, nearly three-quarters of China’s domestic battery demand, less than 10% of EV batteries used in the United States, and more than 10% of the EU EV market after about 90% growth for the second consecutive year.
In the IEA STEPS scenario, global EV battery demand is expected to exceed 3 TWh in 2030, up from about 1 TWh in 2024. The same scenario projects electric trucks above 8% of EV battery demand in 2030 and China’s share declining from 60% in 2024 to just under 50%; a lower share does not imply lower absolute demand.
Lithium Supply-Chain and Company Statistics
Battery manufacturing capacity expanded faster than current sector demand in 2024. Global battery-cell manufacturing capacity grew almost 30% to more than 3 TWh, about three times EV and battery-storage demand, although nameplate capacity is not actual output.
China held about 85% of global battery manufacturing capacity in 2024, and Chinese producers owned more than 75% of global capacity. United States capacity grew almost 50% in the same year.
Arcadium Lithium’s 2024 fiscal-year figures are company-reported product-basis measures, not elemental lithium or global totals:
| Arcadium Lithium measure | Capacity | Production | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lithium hydroxide | 45,000 metric tons | 22,297 metric tons | 2024 fiscal year |
| Lithium carbonate | 70,500 metric tons | 44,115 metric tons | 2024 fiscal year |
| Spodumene concentrate | 330,000 metric tons | 158,409 metric tons | 2024 fiscal year |
| Lithium chloride | 9,000 metric tons | 4,541 metric tons | 2024 fiscal year |
Source: Arcadium Lithium plc 2024 Annual Report (Form 10-K). Concentrate and chemical product masses are not equivalent to contained lithium mass.
Arcadium Lithium reported 720,000 metric tons of total lithium reserves at December 31, 2024, comprising 142,000 proven and 578,000 probable thousand metric tons of elemental lithium under stated price and brine-model assumptions.
Albemarle recorded USD 5.4 billion in company-wide net sales in fiscal 2024, while its Energy Storage segment volume grew 19% year over year. Neither measure is a global lithium-demand total or lithium-only revenue figure.
Source: Albemarle Corporation 2024 Annual Report (Form 10-K).
Lithium Recycling, Supply Security and Outlook
Recycling projections describe future scenarios rather than observed recycling rates. In an IEA announced-pledges scenario, recycling could reduce new mine-development needs for lithium and nickel by 25% by 2050, assuming policy delivery and sufficient collection.
The same scenario estimates a 40% reduction for copper and cobalt, which is comparative critical-minerals context rather than a lithium-specific result. Another IEA outlook estimates that recycled copper, lithium, nickel and cobalt from spent batteries could reduce combined primary supply requirements by around 10% by 2040.
Source: Policy momentum behind critical minerals recycling gathering pace but greater uptake required and Outlook for battery demand and supply — Batteries and Secure Energy Transitions.
Supply security spending also spans more than lithium. The United States announced USD 3 billion across 25 projects in 2024 for lithium and other critical-mineral extraction, processing, battery components, recycling and next-generation manufacturing; it is not lithium-only spending.
Source: Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025: Lithium.