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Data for 2009

Burned Area, 2009

2009, 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, 2009 covers 209 countries on 6 measures. Australia is highest, at 40,790,965.18; 56 countries share the lowest reading, 0.00. The middle country reads 14,747.05. Against 2008, 158 values changed (69 up, 89 down), the same countries are covered.

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Burned Area · Data for 2009

HighestAustralia

40,790,965.18

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, 2009, 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, 2009: every country, as published by European Commission Joint Research Centre — Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS).
AustraliaAUSAustralia and New Zealand40,790,965.18566,870.6267,401,066.13732,550,025.513250,463.73922,539.162
AngolaAGOMiddle Africa36,465,270.942,921,526.01220,948,346.74312,422,705.281164,278.2848,414.619
DR CongoCODMiddle Africa34,330,833.895,046,539.55427,432,884.7421,792,249.66131,705.08527,454.850
South SudanSSDEastern Africa34,229,579.38160,972.54220,002,431.82912,808,554.2421,219,991.10037,629.664
ZambiaZMBEastern Africa20,566,340.162,847,898.08913,437,139.2314,203,617.87266,801.77810,883.194
MozambiqueMOZEastern Africa19,832,400.693,350,456.97513,672,104.6192,713,371.49693,505.3142,962.291
Central African RepublicCAFMiddle Africa15,850,890.172,460,718.24511,613,742.6061,660,728.296114,434.5401,266.485
TanzaniaTZAEastern Africa14,898,213.511,876,417.3269,638,088.5763,318,301.10561,091.8624,314.642
RussiaRUSEastern Europe12,817,548.51802,007.7544,433,431.4722,197,933.0905,370,953.21713,222.979
BrazilBRASouth America9,055,182.97531,537.8194,209,757.1092,928,652.6891,335,863.85549,371.498
ChadTCDMiddle Africa8,589,953.20102,156.063500,755.7556,166,714.3691,819,704.504622.510
SudanSDNNorthern Africa8,491,059.9542.932280,322.7617,187,029.9761,023,578.41385.864
NigeriaNGAWestern Africa6,993,515.2024,084.7061,007,758.0743,182,293.3622,777,361.2612,017.794
MaliMLIWestern Africa6,457,619.81150.262169,451.5565,388,684.010896,178.4963,155.483
EthiopiaETHEastern Africa6,231,927.68104,367.0504,261,597.1751,147,543.805717,582.479837.170
IndiaINDSouthern Asia5,638,460.851,765,911.041648,956.102323,619.4172,899,308.842665.444
NamibiaNAMSouthern Africa5,356,957.4621.466901.5665,353,565.8482,382.71285.864
GhanaGHAWestern Africa5,272,918.59493.7171,866,178.1112,484,609.749920,005.6101,631.407
KazakhstanKAZCentral Asia4,897,544.9742.9322,339.7814,579,012.963298,418.48917,730.807
MyanmarMMRSouth-eastern Asia4,545,461.812,621,862.5071,452,788.437151,506.094318,403.209901.567
MadagascarMDGEastern Africa4,497,592.93110,055.504312,156.6464,063,102.3037,534.5214,743.957
ZimbabweZWEEastern Africa4,483,296.6630,481.532392,267.2633,531,092.244529,047.766407.852
South AfricaZAFSouthern Africa4,155,040.6223,419.264192,634.6943,597,829.632339,482.6931,674.338
CameroonCMRMiddle Africa4,149,523.88118,598.9142,527,198.029396,131.1181,105,084.3162,511.507
SenegalSENWestern Africa4,060,698.1315,970.605261,218.1443,311,925.741471,433.376150.262

02In 2009

At either end

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

Highest

  1. Australia40,790,965.18
  2. Angola36,465,270.94
  3. DR Congo34,330,833.89
  4. South Sudan34,229,579.38
  5. Zambia20,566,340.16

Lowest

  1. Yemenshared0.00
  2. Samoashared0.00
  3. Vanuatushared0.00
  4. United States Virgin Islandsshared0.00
  5. British Virgin Islandsshared0.00

Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score. The middle country reads 14,747.05. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

  • Burned forest (hectares)

    HighestDR Congo5,046,539.554

    Lowest87 share it

    Middle country: 85.864

  • Burned savanna (hectares)

    HighestDR Congo27,432,884.742

    Lowest81 share it

    Middle country: 622.512

  • Burned shrubland and grassland (hectares)

    HighestAustralia32,550,025.513

    Lowest69 share it

    Middle country: 1,738.735

  • Burned cropland (hectares)

    HighestRussia5,370,953.217

    Lowest69 share it

    Middle country: 1,888.996

  • Other burned land (hectares)

    HighestBrazil49,371.498

    Lowest119 share it

    Middle country: 0.000

032008 → 2009

Since 2008

  • +0 / −0countries joined / left
  • 158values changed, of 209 in both
  • 69 · 89rose · fell
  • 51unchanged

Rose most

  • Australia31,633,003.68 → 40,790,965.18+9,157,961.50
  • Namibia2,837,208.08 → 5,356,957.46+2,519,749.37
  • South Sudan31,893,663.70 → 34,229,579.38+2,335,915.68
  • India3,441,708.39 → 5,638,460.85+2,196,752.46
  • Myanmar2,511,313.30 → 4,545,461.81+2,034,148.52

Fell most

  • Russia23,362,698.75 → 12,817,548.51−10,545,150.24
  • Central African Republic25,322,167.47 → 15,850,890.17−9,471,277.30
  • Botswana10,985,136.14 → 2,166,056.27−8,819,079.87
  • Brazil15,229,024.01 → 9,055,182.97−6,173,841.04
  • Kazakhstan9,994,035.59 → 4,897,544.97−5,096,490.61

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 2009.

  • 151 distinct values among 209

    Values are stored exactly as published, to 14 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-2009-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) (2009). Burned Area, 2009 [data set], describing 2009. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/burned-area/2009

0624 held

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