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Data for 2008

Burned Area, 2008

2008, 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, 2008 covers 209 countries on 6 measures. Angola is highest, at 36,649,405.158; 58 countries share the lowest reading, 0.000. The middle country reads 17,687.878. Against 2007, 162 values changed (58 up, 104 down), the same countries are covered.

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Burned Area · Data for 2008

HighestAngola

36,649,405.158

Lowest58 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, 2008, 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, 2008: every country, as published by European Commission Joint Research Centre — Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS).
AngolaAGOMiddle Africa36,649,405.1582,518,010.63820,958,907.94413,001,618.267158,568.36612,299.943
DR CongoCODMiddle Africa34,634,425.6495,095,481.73127,559,984.1381,908,938.11640,334.36729,687.297
South SudanSSDEastern Africa31,893,663.695304,364.53619,234,125.50310,890,106.7441,451,564.88013,502.032
AustraliaAUSAustralia and New Zealand31,633,003.67970,279.2544,298,969.25427,117,422.353138,626.5727,706.246
Central African RepublicCAFMiddle Africa25,322,167.4683,835,692.90418,593,369.3642,705,557.919184,584.9942,962.287
ZambiaZMBEastern Africa24,461,643.7873,265,795.59416,231,608.7814,829,927.47983,158.77151,153.162
RussiaRUSEastern Europe23,362,698.7541,826,251.60810,693,930.1943,330,064.4087,502,256.24710,196.297
MozambiqueMOZEastern Africa22,504,536.2823,835,564.11615,479,874.1093,095,979.12090,392.7702,726.167
BrazilBRASouth America15,229,024.0121,355,977.3797,614,672.9954,719,678.7961,488,357.37650,337.466
TanzaniaTZAEastern Africa14,147,208.6671,708,017.5968,824,360.4753,535,771.80671,846.2557,212.535
ChadTCDMiddle Africa11,066,556.173237,154.904662,179.0747,685,081.0242,482,119.70521.466
BotswanaBWASouthern Africa10,985,136.14021.4662,232.45010,980,220.456643.9772,017.791
KazakhstanKAZCentral Asia9,994,035.587321.99080,217.9499,047,154.702849,576.10216,764.844
NigeriaNGAWestern Africa9,085,084.90853,106.5611,460,988.3963,487,237.4804,080,532.5903,219.881
MaliMLIWestern Africa8,570,097.275107.330260,788.8227,171,381.3551,135,479.9872,339.781
SudanSDNNorthern Africa8,273,310.195493.715476,885.7086,834,989.757960,919.54921.466
GhanaGHAWestern Africa6,321,504.7392,876.4262,033,590.4103,120,020.8841,164,394.508622.511
EthiopiaETHEastern Africa5,623,069.820206,265.5213,803,644.3651,052,020.691560,795.789343.454
ArgentinaARGSouth America4,959,731.607162,883.0132,048,573.5912,022,535.489493,178.302232,561.212
CameroonCMRMiddle Africa4,921,543.810186,001.7443,100,808.931384,067.3031,247,252.7583,413.074
SenegalSENWestern Africa4,610,031.13424,535.487263,042.7423,831,764.646490,645.32742.932
UkraineUKREastern Europe4,552,588.4873,520.40655,897.12084,596.9864,408,123.190450.785
GuineaGINWestern Africa4,515,946.24036,620.7733,711,083.543499,381.938268,237.475622.511
ZimbabweZWEEastern Africa4,479,776.26539,840.653380,096.1133,470,708.763588,894.611236.125
South AfricaZAFSouthern Africa4,183,332.63144,005.032197,657.7083,631,724.231308,571.8431,373.817

02In 2008

At either end

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

Highest

  1. Angola36,649,405.158
  2. DR Congo34,634,425.649
  3. South Sudan31,893,663.695
  4. Australia31,633,003.679
  5. Central African Republic25,322,167.468

Lowest

  1. Yemenshared0.000
  2. Samoashared0.000
  3. Vanuatushared0.000
  4. United States Virgin Islandsshared0.000
  5. British Virgin Islandsshared0.000

Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score. The middle country reads 17,687.878. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

  • Burned forest (hectares)

    HighestDR Congo5,095,481.731

    Lowest95 share it

    Middle country: 64.398

  • Burned savanna (hectares)

    HighestDR Congo27,559,984.138

    Lowest73 share it

    Middle country: 772.772

  • Burned shrubland and grassland (hectares)

    HighestAustralia27,117,422.353

    Lowest67 share it

    Middle country: 2,017.793

  • Burned cropland (hectares)

    HighestRussia7,502,256.247

    Lowest70 share it

    Middle country: 1,974.862

  • Other burned land (hectares)

    HighestArgentina232,561.212

    Lowest115 share it

    Middle country: 0.000

032007 → 2008

Since 2007

  • +0 / −0countries joined / left
  • 162values changed, of 209 in both
  • 58 · 104rose · fell
  • 47unchanged

Rose most

  • Russia10,961,480.827 → 23,362,698.754+12,401,217.927
  • Botswana2,843,755.171 → 10,985,136.140+8,141,380.969
  • Central African Republic22,837,836.781 → 25,322,167.468+2,484,330.687
  • DR Congo32,355,931.182 → 34,634,425.649+2,278,494.467
  • Ukraine2,387,047.393 → 4,552,588.487+2,165,541.094

Fell most

  • Brazil36,362,148.935 → 15,229,024.012−21,133,124.923
  • Australia51,589,047.764 → 31,633,003.679−19,956,044.085
  • Angola39,203,800.435 → 36,649,405.158−2,554,395.277
  • Myanmar5,034,969.458 → 2,511,313.296−2,523,656.162
  • Sudan10,559,017.217 → 8,273,310.195−2,285,707.022

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 2008.

  • 152 distinct values among 209

    Values are stored exactly as published, to 14 decimals. 58 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 · 16 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel

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

    Download burned-area-2008-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) (2008). Burned Area, 2008 [data set], describing 2008. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/burned-area/2008

0624 held

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