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Data for 2003

Burned Area, 2003

2003, as GWIS’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

This is how much land burned in a year — forest, savanna, grassland and farmland — as seen from NASA's MODIS satellites and added up per country by the European Commission's Global Wildfire Information System. It counts wildfires and every other vegetation fire, including fires set to clear fields.

Burned Area, 2003 covers 209 countries on 6 measures. Angola is highest, at 41,132,937.935; 47 countries share the lowest reading, 0.000. The middle country reads 24,471.092. Against 2002, 164 values changed (114 up, 50 down), the same countries are covered.

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Burned Area · Data for 2003

HighestAngola

41,132,937.935

Lowest47 countries share it

0.000

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the highest end.

01Values only

The table

Every country and every column of Burned Area, 2003, as published. The file carries values only, so no position is shown. “=” marks a shared position.

Showing 25 of 209 countries · select a heading to sort

Burned Area, 2003: every country, as published by European Commission Joint Research Centre — Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS).
AngolaAGOMiddle Africa41,132,937.9352,266,280.41623,045,325.86015,577,779.921236,854.3846,697.354
DR CongoCODMiddle Africa35,111,204.0375,072,835.24328,003,146.9691,919,392.00373,305.93542,523.887
AustraliaAUSAustralia and New Zealand31,655,757.4921,185,173.4735,975,131.50224,402,075.99677,684.97315,691.548
South SudanSSDEastern Africa30,660,299.356226,980.08117,864,817.82510,744,632.5651,771,213.11252,655.773
Central African RepublicCAFMiddle Africa26,788,350.6174,294,225.30218,973,444.0142,993,651.324524,625.7992,404.178
ZambiaZMBEastern Africa25,223,767.9492,978,303.23616,918,237.4795,194,868.691103,293.75529,064.788
RussiaRUSEastern Europe22,363,205.0361,516,026.89312,414,269.1996,046,634.3152,365,753.25220,521.377
MozambiqueMOZEastern Africa20,735,662.9333,092,179.65615,274,596.0122,194,069.235171,490.8163,327.214
TanzaniaTZAEastern Africa17,303,871.8211,779,778.00411,088,988.0124,270,763.105154,039.07710,303.623
BrazilBRASouth America16,401,940.4622,382,689.8187,785,197.8374,870,669.7041,339,169.59824,213.505
ChadTCDMiddle Africa12,351,181.010195,382.3241,154,005.0308,126,440.7252,873,421.0031,931.928
NigeriaNGAWestern Africa12,138,175.228107,243.4722,257,436.4744,117,024.5655,653,444.0263,026.691
KazakhstanKAZCentral Asia10,454,006.189665.44225,286.7949,307,106.3581,118,328.7572,618.838
SudanSDNNorthern Africa9,404,926.319236.125336,820.9247,439,854.9591,628,014.3110.000
GhanaGHAWestern Africa7,129,909.2982,790.5621,993,706.8273,400,472.4411,731,909.1071,030.361
CameroonCMRMiddle Africa7,073,840.461385,419.6494,755,462.386336,026.6881,595,343.2651,588.473
ArgentinaARGSouth America6,651,800.054126,562.7652,653,288.5363,280,070.397569,038.67122,839.685
MaliMLIWestern Africa6,519,677.628493.716191,475.5365,305,460.8411,016,730.8085,516.727
EthiopiaETHEastern Africa6,435,638.759194,931.5433,750,280.2171,012,566.4301,476,594.0831,266.486
MadagascarMDGEastern Africa6,104,119.90255,296.073299,148.3305,741,046.2187,963.837665.444
UgandaUGAEastern Africa4,437,059.18613,695.2262,141,950.109888,150.2651,389,034.8054,228.781
GuineaGINWestern Africa4,221,863.86236,277.3213,393,882.421458,661.187331,390.0621,652.871
Côte d’IvoireCIVWestern Africa3,797,118.73914,639.7203,185,341.520571,421.38925,372.656343.454
South AfricaZAFSouthern Africa3,784,840.28545,894.026156,271.5173,249,588.874331,690.5851,395.283
Burkina FasoBFAWestern Africa3,479,810.2900.00042.9322,951,835.817527,931.5410.000

02In 2003

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline, then the highest and lowest on each other measure.

Highest

  1. Angola41,132,937.935
  2. DR Congo35,111,204.037
  3. Australia31,655,757.492
  4. South Sudan30,660,299.356
  5. Central African Republic26,788,350.617

Lowest

  1. Yemenshared0.000
  2. Samoashared0.000
  3. United States Virgin Islandsshared0.000
  4. British Virgin Islandsshared0.000
  5. Saint Vincent and the Grenadinesshared0.000

Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score. The middle country reads 24,471.092. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

  • Burned forest (hectares)

    HighestDR Congo5,072,835.243

    Lowest90 share it

    Middle country: 171.728

  • Burned savanna (hectares)

    HighestDR Congo28,003,146.969

    Lowest68 share it

    Middle country: 1,266.486

  • Burned shrubland and grassland (hectares)

    HighestAustralia24,402,075.996

    Lowest55 share it

    Middle country: 2,790.563

  • Burned cropland (hectares)

    HighestNigeria5,653,444.026

    Lowest61 share it

    Middle country: 3,091.085

  • Other burned land (hectares)

    HighestSouth Sudan52,655.773

    Lowest115 share it

    Middle country: 0.000

032002 → 2003

Since 2002

  • +0 / −0countries joined / left
  • 164values changed, of 209 in both
  • 114 · 50rose · fell
  • 45unchanged

Rose most

  • Central African Republic17,118,277.904 → 26,788,350.617+9,670,072.713
  • Russia15,745,600.134 → 22,363,205.036+6,617,604.902
  • Angola35,153,169.802 → 41,132,937.935+5,979,768.133
  • Tanzania12,700,516.562 → 17,303,871.821+4,603,355.259
  • DR Congo31,266,860.391 → 35,111,204.037+3,844,343.646

Fell most

  • Australia77,040,096.293 → 31,655,757.492−45,384,338.801
  • Kazakhstan23,451,052.219 → 10,454,006.189−12,997,046.030
  • Botswana8,172,291.822 → 1,401,098.629−6,771,193.193
  • Brazil23,136,512.883 → 16,401,940.462−6,734,572.421
  • South Sudan35,333,933.865 → 30,660,299.356−4,673,634.509

04Caveats

Read before you use

How values are stored

  • One year of the 2026 release

    Every year in this series comes from GWIS’s 2026 release, recalculated on one method, so a change from one year to the next is not a revision. It can differ from what was first published for 2003.

  • 162 distinct values among 209

    Values are stored exactly as published, to 14 decimals. 47 countries share 0.000. Countries sharing a value share a position too.

  • Nothing missing

    Every one of the 209 countries has every column.

05The files

Download and cite

Licence in full
  • .csv

    For a spreadsheet or code

    209 rows · 17 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel

    Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.

    Download burned-area-2003-nations-inquiry.csv
  • ↗

    The publisher’s original

    GWIS’s own file, on its own site.

    banf

What this site changed: Reshaped to one row per country, with its ISO code; no value recalculated, rescaled or rounded. In full

Licence: CC BY 4.0 · what it allows, in plain words

Cite this edition

European Commission Joint Research Centre — Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS) (2003). Burned Area, 2003 [data set], describing 2003. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/burned-area/2003

0624 held

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