The paper makes a cross country analysis of the energy intensity in manufacturing sectors. Empirical data for this purpose is gathered from the databases of two international agencies namely the LEA (International Energy Agency) and the UNIDO (UN International Development Organization), which provide energy consumption and manufacturing output data respectively. The analyses are carried out with exploratory as well as formal statistical methods to identify the driving factors explaining energy intensity, identify trends and facilitate comparisons. The results from modeling the energy intensities with a linear mixed-effects model show some driving factors that explain the energy intensities. In general, the energy intensities of industrial sectors decreased around the world. In particular, industrialized countries with higher value of GDP (gross domestic product) per capita tend to have lower energy intensity indicating that efficiency in energy use is achieved along with the technological advancement. Countries with higher GDP and smaller population tend to have lower energy intensity values and a lower energy intensity index. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.