What are the size of the output gap and the current rate of unemployment in the nether?

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A view of a crimson forest with a hoglin and a ghast in the background.

A view of a nether fortress.

The Nether is a dangerous hell-like dimension containing fire, lava, fungal vegetation, many hostile mobs, and exclusive structures and biomes.

Accessing[]

Main article: Nether Portal

"Economy" portal without corners (left), full portal (right)

To access the Nether, the player must construct a nether portal in the Overworld (portals created in the End do not activate). To create the portal, the player must first build a rectangular obsidian frame, ranging in size from a minimum of 4 blocks × 5 blocks to a maximum of 23 blocks × 23 blocks. Once the frame is built, it can then be activated by placing fire within the frame, using flint and steel, fire charge, dispensers or any material that is capable of igniting fire.

The portal allows most entities (with the exception of the wither, the ender dragon, and entities riding or being ridden by another entity) to be transported to a corresponding portal in the Nether. In Survival, the player must stand in a nether portal for 4 seconds to get to the Nether. The player can step out of a portal before it completes its animation to abort the teleport. The portal plays a sound effect while the player is inside it. If there is no corresponding portal, a new 4×5 portal is created. The portal can be destroyed by breaking the obsidian frame, by a nearby explosion, or by placing water in the Overworld or lava into it with a bucket or dispenser. Any of the blocks in the corners can be destroyed without destroying the portal.

In the Old‌[Bedrock Edition only] world type, it is impossible to construct a nether portal. The portal block must be placed using cheats. When done, the Nether has the same 256×256 borders as the Overworld, and if a nether portal is then made in the Nether, it can spawn the player outside the world barrier.

Traits[]

Bedrock comprises the top (including and below layer 127) and bottom 4 layers in a rough pattern, essentially making the Nether 128 blocks high unlike the Overworld's 320. In the infinite worlds of the Java and Bedrock Editions, the Nether is also horizontally infinite. In Bedrock Edition, the build limit in the Nether is 128 blocks, despite it being 256 in all other dimensions.

The Nether has no daylight cycle and no weather. Natural sources of light include fire, lava, portals, shroomlights and glowstone. Even with a light level of 0, the Nether has a dim ambient light (roughly equivalent to light level 8 in the Overworld). Light otherwise functions exactly the same as it does in the Overworld and the End.

The majority of flora in the Nether is fungus-based as opposed to plants. The Nether "grass" consists of specialized Nether mycelium (known as "nylium"). The Nether features its own unique fungi (including nether wart), as well as equivalent huge fungi which serve as trees. The stems of the huge fungi function as logs. Also present are a number of native vines and roots.

Most creatures found in the Nether are hostile and potentially dangerous.

Locations in the Nether correlate to Overworld coordinates, but horizontal Overworld distances are scaled down by a ratio of 8:1 for travel in the Nether. Therefore, traveling one block in the Nether means traveling eight blocks in the Overworld. For example, in a perfect scenario, a player who enters a portal in the Overworld at x=0, z=0 and travels in the Nether to x=1000, z=1000 returns to the Overworld at x=8000, z=8000. This makes portals a useful tool for traveling long distances in the Overworld.

An image of the Nether with a nether fortress.

Most items and blocks in the Nether function the same as they do in the Overworld, with a few notable exceptions:

• Beds explode and cause fires when a player attempts to sleep in one. It has an explosion power of 5. The explosion is larger than that of TNT, which has an explosion power of 4. They cannot be used as a respawn point.
• One has to use a powered respawn anchor to respawn in the Nether, but when it runs out of charges, the player once again respawns in the Overworld.
• There is no way to place liquid water in the Nether without the use of commands, except inside a cauldron. These can be used to put out a player on fire, but are difficult to center oneself in.
  • Using water buckets produces steam particles and a hissing sound, leaving the player with an empty bucket.
  • Ice that is melted or smashed in the Nether does not produce water.
  • A wet sponge instantly becomes a regular sponge when placed.
  • If somehow placed using cheats or when placed inside a cauldron, water takes on a reddish-brown color.‌[Bedrock Edition only]
• Lava flows twice as far (eight blocks) and six times as fast in the Nether compared to Overworld, basically water's equivalent flow characteristics from the Overworld.
• Grass blocks and leaves take a dead-looking brownish color because the Nether is dry and hot.
• Maps generate a brown-gray static pattern. The player's direction indicator spins randomly; its location is still relative to the player's location in the Nether, except in the New Nintendo 3DS Edition, where it is always in the center of the map. Usable significantly for lava ocean travel via strider. Putting the map in the off-hand minimizes the map to help see one's strider footing.
• Clocks spin wildly, making it impossible to tell the time while in the Nether. Compasses also spin wildly unless connected to a lodestone, which they then point toward.
• Snow golems rapidly take fire damage and die, due to the Nether being dry and hot. However, they can survive if they have the Fire Resistance status effect.‌[Java Edition only]

Environment[]

The Nether features unique cave-like terrain with no sky. Lava and fire are common hazards everywhere in the Nether. Areas distant from the player are shrouded in fog of red or blue. Unlike the Overworld, the shape of the terrain in the Nether is independent of the biome distribution; instead, the biome alters the surface material and adds terrain features to the netherrack terrain.

Biomes[]

Main article: Biome § The Nether

The Nether is divided into several biomes just like the Overworld, each featuring unique terrain, mobs, structures, ambience, etc. There are currently five biomes in the Nether.

Biome Name	Description	Image
Nether Wastes	Initially the sole biome in the dimension before the Nether Update, the nether wastes is the most common biome in the Nether. The surface is composed of uncovered netherrack, exposing more blobs than any other biome. Zombified piglins dominate this biome, and can be found in hordes of up to 4.
Crimson Forest	The biome is named for its red color, and is covered by the canopies of huge, tree-like fungi. Huge, pig-like animals called hoglins roam around the nylium-covered terrain, while tribes of piglins hunt them for food. This makes it one of the only biomes to have an ecosystem. While not as numerous as in the nether wastes, the occasional zombified piglin also roams, and if near normal piglins, it scares them away. It is also one of the more habitable biomes in the Nether, due to hoglins being a source of food in the dimension, and despite being a hostile mob, it can be bred, making it perfect for farms in the dimension.
Warped Forest	This forest-type biome has the most amount of flora in the Nether dimension (due to the additional nether sprouts that are only found within the biome) but also only has two mobs, those being the endermen and the occasional strider. The amount of endermen here makes the biome an ideal place to collect ender pearls before the player has access to the End dimension. The very low diversity of mobs here makes it another habitable place in the Nether, since no mobs spawned here are naturally hostile to the player.
Soul Sand Valley	This desert-like biome is dangerous, not just because of the huge caverns and darkness that can allow numbers of ghasts and skeletons to spawn, but also due to the deposits of soul sand which slow the player down. Boots enchanted with Soul Speed allow the player to avoid the slowing effect of soul sand. Bluish-colored soul fire is common here and are more dangerous than regular fires.
Basalt Deltas	With high amounts of lava and magma cubes, this is one of the most dangerous biomes in the game. The terrain consists of steep and spiky basalt formations along with the flatter deltas. When the biome collides with a lava sea, archipelagos of basalt and gravel form. The biome is almost impossible to build in, which might explain why bastion remnants don’t generate here (unless a bastion remnant generates in a bordering biome). Even though the magma cubes here are dangerous, their spawning rate makes the biome ideal for collecting magma cream, which can be used for brewing Fire Resistance potions. Blackstone also generates more commonly here than in other Nether biomes, making the basalt deltas ideal for making stone tools.

Generated structures[]

The Nether contains a variety of unique generated structures. Though equally vast, it contains far fewer types of generated structures than the Overworld.

Name	Description	Image
Nether Fortress	Nether fortresses are large, castle-like structures that are composed of nether bricks. This structure is often found bridging over lava seas, or tunnelling through netherrack. This structure is the only place blazes and wither skeletons spawn, making fortresses the gateway to both bosses in the game: the ender dragon and the wither. Fortresses also contain blaze spawners, as well as small nether wart farms where nether wart can be obtained. Nether fortresses can be found in all Nether biomes.
Nether Fossil	Nether fossils are structures comprised of bone blocks. These structures have 14 different designs. Unlike fossils in the Overworld, coal ore does not generate within these fossils. This structure generates exclusively within soul sand valley biomes.
Bastion Remnant	Bastion remnants are large fortifications made up of blackstone, blackstone bricks and basalt. A large amount of gold blocks and loot chests can be found within these structures. They generate in four distinct variants, each with its own unique structure and loot. These structures are inhabited by the piglins and piglin brutes, and in certain variants hoglins as well. These structures generate within any Nether biome except for the basalt deltas.
Ruined Portal	A structure containing what appears to be a destroyed nether portal and various types of stone or blackstone materials, when generating in the Overworld or the Nether, respectively. Netherrack generates on the ground around the portal, and a chest containing loot generates with the structure. These structures can be found in any Overworld and Nether biome.

Terrain features[]

The Nether has a lot of different terrain features which generate within the biomes of the Nether.

Mobs[]

The Nether is home to its own share of mobs, most of which are fire- and lava-proof. Skeletons, chickens, and endermen are the only Overworld mobs that can naturally spawn in the Nether; in Java Edition, baby zombified piglins may spawn as chicken jockeys.

Other Overworld mobs do not naturally spawn in the Nether but can be teleported through portals (with the exception of withers and ender dragons).

Blaze	Chicken Jockey ‌[JE only]	Enderman	Ghast	Hoglin	Magma Cube

Piglin	Piglin Brute	Skeleton	Strider	Wither Skeleton	Zombified Piglin

Blocks[]

Naturally generated[]

Naturally generated blocks includes those that are created through the world seed.

Naturally created[]

Naturally created blocks are created through a combination of events that lead these blocks to be placed by natural causes, not by the player.

Structures[]

These blocks are generated as part of nether fortresses, bastion remnants, and ruined portals, but only when the "generated structures" option is on.

Technical information[]

ID[]

Folder[]

In Java Edition, the Nether is stored in .minecraft/saves/worldname/DIM-1. Deleting this folder resets the Nether, so that all player-made changes and buildings in that dimension are undone.

In Bedrock Edition, the com.mojang/minecraftWorlds/world ID/db folder contains several collections of chunks. Some of these files are used for the Nether, but it is impossible to tell which ones simply by reading the file name.

Achievements[]

Advancements[]

There is a whole tab dedicated to the Nether in the advancement system, all involving visiting the Nether in some way in order to advance.

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Resource location
	We Need to Go Deeper	Build, light and enter a Nether Portal	Ice Bucket Challenge	Enter the Nether dimension.	story/enter_the_nether
	Nether	Bring summer clothes	—	Enter the Nether dimension.	nether/root
	Return to Sender	Destroy a Ghast with a fireball	Nether	Kill a ghast using a ghast fireball.	nether/return_to_sender
	Those Were the Days	Enter a Bastion Remnant	Nether	—	nether/find_bastion
	Hidden in the Depths	Obtain Ancient Debris	Nether	Have an ancient debris in your inventory.	nether/obtain_ancient_debris
	Subspace Bubble	Use the Nether to travel 7 km in the Overworld	Nether	Use the Nether to travel between 2 points in the Overworld with a minimum horizontal euclidean distance of 7000 blocks between each other, which is 875 blocks in the Nether.	nether/fast_travel
	A Terrible Fortress	Break your way into a Nether Fortress	Nether	Enter a Nether fortress.	nether/find_fortress
	Oh Shiny	Distract Piglins with gold	Nether	Give a piglin one of these 24 gold-related items in the #piglin_loved item tag: Other gold-related items, if any, do not distract the piglin and do not trigger this advancement.	nether/distract_piglin
	This Boat Has Legs	Ride a Strider with a Warped Fungus on a Stick	Nether	Boost[1] a strider with a warped fungus on a stick.	nether/ride_strider
	Uneasy Alliance	Rescue a Ghast from the Nether, bring it safely home to the Overworld... and then kill it	Return to Sender	Kill a ghast while in the Overworld.	nether/uneasy_alliance
	War Pigs	Loot a chest in a Bastion Remnant	Those Were the Days	Open a naturally generated, never before opened chest in a bastion remnant.	nether/loot_bastion
	Country Lode, Take Me Home	Use a compass on a Lodestone	Hidden in the Depths	—	nether/use_lodestone
	Cover Me in Debris	Get a full suit of Netherite armor	Hidden in the Depths	Have a full set of netherite armor in your inventory.	nether/netherite_armor
	Spooky Scary Skeleton	Obtain a Wither Skeleton's skull	A Terrible Fortress	Have a wither skeleton skull in your inventory.	nether/get_wither_skull
	Into Fire	Relieve a Blaze of its rod	A Terrible Fortress	Have a blaze rod in your inventory.	nether/obtain_blaze_rod
	Hot Tourist Destinations	Explore all Nether biomes	This Boat Has Legs	Visit all of the 5 following biomes: Basalt Deltas Crimson Forest Nether Wastes Soul Sand Valley Warped Forest The advancement is only for Nether biomes. Other biomes, if any, may also be visited, but are ignored for this advancement.	nether/explore_nether
	Withering Heights	Summon the Wither	Spooky Scary Skeleton	—	nether/summon_wither
	Local Brewery	Brew a potion	Into Fire	Pick up an item from a brewing stand potion slot. This does not need to be a potion. Water bottles or even glass bottles can also trigger this advancement.[2]	nether/brew_potion
	Bring Home the Beacon	Construct and place a beacon	Withering Heights	Be within a 20×20×14 cuboid centered on a beacon block when it realizes it has become powered.	nether/create_beacon
	A Furious Cocktail	Have every potion effect applied at the same time	Local Brewery	Have all of these 13 status effects applied to the player at the same time: The source of the effects is irrelevant for the purposes of this advancement. Other status effects may be applied to the player, but are ignored for this advancement.	nether/all_potions
	Beaconator	Bring a beacon to full power	Bring Home the Beacon	Be within a 20×20×14 cuboid centered on a beacon block when it realizes it is being powered by a size 4 pyramid.	nether/create_full_beacon
	How Did We Get Here?	Have every effect applied at the same time	A Furious Cocktail	Have all of these 27 effects applied to the player at the same time: The source of the effects is irrelevant for the purposes of this advancement. Other status effects, if any, may be applied to the player, but are ignored for this advancement. This is a hidden advancement, meaning that it can be viewed by the player only after completing it, regardless if one or more of its child advancements have been completed.	nether/all_effects
	Is It a Balloon?	Look at a ghast through a spyglass	Is It a Bird?	Look at a ghast through a spyglass while the ghast is focused on you.	adventure/spyglass_at_ghast

History[]

Issues[]

Issues relating to "The Nether" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia[]

• Upon entering the Nether as a single player, the passage of time freezes in the Overworld, resuming when the player returns unless the /forceload command is used. This is due to the spawn chunks no longer being ticked, and not chunks loading and unloading as some players believe. The spawn chunks are kept loaded when there are no players in the Overworld, but most stuff other than basic redstone stops working.
• The numbers for the 3 dimensions are -1=the Nether, 0=Overworld, 1=the End. This contributes to a misconception that the Nether is "below" the Overworld, although Dinnerbone confirmed that they are simply separate dimensions.[6]
• In Bedrock Edition, if a section of the bedrock ceiling is removed (e.g., through commands) mobs can spawn directly below where the ceiling should be, despite the surface density cap in the Nether being 0.
• In Legacy Console Edition, the size of the Nether is limited, with bedrock walls surrounding it on all sides. The Overworld-Nether ratio varies depending on the world size: it is 1:3 for Classic and Small worlds, 1:6 for Medium worlds, and 1:8 (the same as Java and Bedrock editions) for Large worlds.
• The crimson and warped forest biomes are suggested to decontaminate the Nether environment from potential landfill pollution that coincides with the presence of Ancient Debris, as stated from an article from the official Minecraft website regarding netherite scrap.[7]

Gallery[]

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  The first screenshot released by Notch showing what the Nether would look like.

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  Brightened version of the previous screenshot.

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  Another early view of a nether fortress Jeb released in September 2011.

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  The Nether as it appeared prior to Beta 1.8.

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  View of a nether fortress.

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  View of a nether fortress in basalt deltas

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  View of nether fortresses with a blaze spawner.

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  A large, spreading stream of lava in the Nether.

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  Ghasts are not harmed by lava or fire.

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  Bedrock naturally exposed in the Nether.

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  Using a map in the Nether causes the player's position indicator to rotate, but any markers do not.

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  A hidden lava source block uncovered.

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  Mushrooms naturally generated above the Nether.

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  The magma block naturally generated in the Nether.

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  The Nether in the Overworld, generated using Buffet.

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  The junction of all biomes in the Nether.

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  The basalt deltas, one of the five new biomes in the Nether.

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  The Nether ceiling, which is a vast endless plane of bedrock with a red sky of the void.

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  Brightened version of the previous screenshot.

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  View of the basalt deltas.

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  View of the warped forest.

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  An intersection of four different nether biomes.

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  Historically there have been many glitches enabling water to be placed in the Nether.

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  The Far Lands in the Nether.

References[]

Environment