Average number of employees (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2018

Number And Average Number Of Employees [Abstract]

	Subsidiaries and joint operations				Equity accounted units (Rio Tinto share)				Group total
		2018	2017	2016		2018	2017	2016		2018	2017	2016
Principal locations of
employment:
Australia and New Zealand		19,017	19,041	20,489		578	602	849		19,595	19,643	21,338
Canada		10,620	10,256	10,239		-	-	-		10,620	10,256	10,239
UK		287	309	487		-	-	-		287	309	487
Europe		1,418	1,505	1,722		-	-	-		1,418	1,505	1,722
Africa		3,496	3,461	4,875		1,262	1,269	1,270		4,758	4,730	6,145
US		3,792	3,429	3,196		-	-	-		3,792	3,429	3,196
Mongolia		2,886	2,861	2,737		-	-	-		2,886	2,861	2,737
Indonesia		1,615	1,642	2,862		-	-	-		1,615	1,642	2,862
South America		210	197	166		1,289	1,237	1,388		1,499	1,434	1,554
Other countries ^(a)		988	998	749		-	-	-		988	998	749
Total		44,329	43,699	47,522		3,129	3,108	3,507		47,458	46,807	51,029

(a)

“Other countries” primarily includes employees in the Middle East (excluding Oman which is included in Africa), India, Singapore and other countries in Asia which are not shown separately in the table above. For the year ended 31 December 2018, the average number of employees in Singapore was 422 (2017: 434; 2016: 262) and the average number of employees in India was 288 (2017: 310; 2016: 280).