Northwest Territories annual exports of diamonds have tripled since the region’s first year of production in 1999, according to Statistics Canada. Canada rose from being an inconsequential rough diamond producer to the third largest in the world, after Botswana and Russia in such short span of time. %% Statistics Canada reported that exports of the precious stones from the NWT totaled more than $1.7 billion in 2005. This was almost twice the value exported in 2002 and three times the value exported in 1999. Production has risen at an annual average rate of 29% since 1999. In terms of volume, 12 million carats were mined in 2005, compared with five million carats in 2002 and about two million carats in 1999. %% The development of the diamond industry has been an important factor in the development of the NWT economy. Per capita gross domestic product in the Northwest Territories rose at an annual average rate of almost 13 percent from 1999 to 2004, almost three times the increase of 4.2% reported in the rest of Canada.