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Data for 2005

Burned Area, 2005

2005, 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, 2005 covers 209 countries on 6 measures. Angola is highest, at 40,519,228.76; 56 countries share the lowest reading, 0.00. The middle country reads 16,571.65. Against 2004, 161 values changed (87 up, 74 down), the same countries are covered.

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Burned Area · Data for 2005

HighestAngola

40,519,228.76

Lowest56 countries share it

0.00

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, 2005, 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, 2005: every country, as published by European Commission Joint Research Centre — Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS).
AngolaAGOMiddle Africa40,519,228.762,737,327.40021,813,292.3915,771,573.765185,228.97311,806.229
DR CongoCODMiddle Africa37,019,605.485,320,808.93629,417,103.642,194,348.29045,035.39042,309.226
South SudanSSDEastern Africa34,587,136.34388,467.80219,589,922.2613,293,575.5131,278,764.65136,406.111
AustraliaAUSAustralia and New Zealand27,970,776.44117,847.6175,479,506.0921,827,824.785531,709.53213,888.417
ZambiaZMBEastern Africa26,339,477.863,278,610.71517,127,959.005,756,716.30578,543.60697,648.231
Central African RepublicCAFMiddle Africa23,680,071.564,253,847.99916,426,432.992,821,795.592175,891.3172,103.655
BrazilBRASouth America22,413,563.923,546,418.87611,792,746.475,699,702.9631,334,640.30240,055.309
MozambiqueMOZEastern Africa21,183,677.063,572,907.76014,721,914.332,809,216.59476,203.8353,434.543
TanzaniaTZAEastern Africa17,581,124.942,155,216.01311,314,014.704,047,883.00652,827.50511,183.721
NigeriaNGAWestern Africa13,638,381.7698,463.9392,945,911.244,933,929.6085,655,590.6014,486.371
ChadTCDMiddle Africa12,915,432.79160,972.538710,777.809,218,688.4502,822,654.2252,339.779
KazakhstanKAZCentral Asia12,804,389.8764.39811,248.1112,393,039.454392,009.6708,028.238
RussiaRUSEastern Europe12,686,542.28627,576.1103,976,616.332,999,704.7045,067,490.23315,154.907
SudanSDNNorthern Africa9,996,997.87214.659384,410.758,224,024.5531,388,347.9030.000
MaliMLIWestern Africa9,034,167.86150.261319,948.757,533,853.9961,178,969.8301,245.021
GhanaGHAWestern Africa8,964,317.943,176.9502,808,529.694,593,309.2231,556,339.7862,962.291
EthiopiaETHEastern Africa7,839,742.61234,986.8515,346,203.051,338,611.491919,576.292364.921
CameroonCMRMiddle Africa6,656,565.46374,965.7734,538,635.66438,955.5221,301,668.7282,339.781
MadagascarMDGEastern Africa6,014,864.82170,310.192463,405.145,371,618.6407,276.9312,253.919
BoliviaBOLSouth America5,774,897.901,116,976.4103,263,434.341,287,737.38484,554.05022,195.708
UgandaUGAEastern Africa5,580,717.6915,584.2263,040,146.411,024,115.0671,494,432.2216,439.763
South AfricaZAFSouthern Africa5,172,715.9268,154.133181,300.724,583,134.402339,182.172944.499
SenegalSENWestern Africa5,093,442.472,854.961270,169.414,166,417.521653,721.525279.057
GuineaGINWestern Africa5,081,185.4620,542.8394,161,695.03580,673.176315,677.0442,597.370
Côte d’IvoireCIVWestern Africa4,384,210.226,997.8763,896,999.42470,317.1537,684.7832,210.985

02In 2005

At either end

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

Highest

  1. Angola40,519,228.76
  2. DR Congo37,019,605.48
  3. South Sudan34,587,136.34
  4. Australia27,970,776.44
  5. Zambia26,339,477.86

Lowest

  1. Yemenshared0.00
  2. Samoashared0.00
  3. United States Virgin Islandsshared0.00
  4. Saint Vincent and the Grenadinesshared0.00
  5. Tuvalushared0.00

Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score. The middle country reads 16,571.65. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

  • Burned forest (hectares)

    HighestDR Congo5,320,808.936

    Lowest94 share it

    Middle country: 64.398

  • Burned savanna (hectares)

    HighestDR Congo29,417,103.64

    Lowest80 share it

    Middle country: 579.58

  • Burned shrubland and grassland (hectares)

    HighestAustralia21,827,824.785

    Lowest68 share it

    Middle country: 2,275.383

  • Burned cropland (hectares)

    HighestNigeria5,655,590.601

    Lowest70 share it

    Middle country: 2,189.519

  • Other burned land (hectares)

    HighestZambia97,648.231

    Lowest116 share it

    Middle country: 0.000

032004 → 2005

Since 2004

  • +0 / −0countries joined / left
  • 161values changed, of 209 in both
  • 87 · 74rose · fell
  • 48unchanged

Rose most

  • Ghana5,448,552.31 → 8,964,317.94+3,515,765.64
  • Nigeria10,600,253.15 → 13,638,381.76+3,038,128.61
  • South Sudan31,821,087.61 → 34,587,136.34+2,766,048.73
  • Tanzania14,959,069.25 → 17,581,124.94+2,622,055.69
  • Madagascar3,556,743.97 → 6,014,864.82+2,458,120.86

Fell most

  • Australia63,991,467.79 → 27,970,776.44−36,020,691.35
  • Myanmar5,409,398.58 → 3,275,605.50−2,133,793.08
  • Cambodia4,185,672.42 → 2,212,336.71−1,973,335.71
  • Colombia3,982,412.12 → 2,183,400.71−1,799,011.42
  • Indonesia2,453,312.53 → 769,594.29−1,683,718.23

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 2005.

  • 151 distinct values among 209

    Values are stored exactly as published, to 13 decimals. 56 countries share 0.00. 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 · 16 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel

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

    Download burned-area-2005-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) (2005). Burned Area, 2005 [data set], describing 2005. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/burned-area/2005

0624 held

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