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Data for 2015

Burned Area, 2015

2015, 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, 2015 covers 209 countries on 6 measures. Australia is highest, at 42,215,805.065; 54 countries share the lowest reading, 0.000. The middle country reads 16,593.120. Against 2014, 166 values changed (98 up, 68 down), the same countries are covered.

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Burned Area · Data for 2015

HighestAustralia

42,215,805.065

Lowest54 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, 2015, 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, 2015: every country, as published by European Commission Joint Research Centre — Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS).
AustraliaAUSAustralia and New Zealand42,215,805.065235,759.6235,369,386.19236,197,054.919383,165.73230,438.599
AngolaAGOMiddle Africa36,959,243.4792,703,454.26920,465,965.77013,611,313.284156,765.22921,744.927
DR CongoCODMiddle Africa34,064,034.6265,025,803.53327,506,727.3201,470,884.16117,537.61343,081.999
South SudanSSDEastern Africa31,617,419.450120,766.97117,917,709.72612,666,750.722892,078.51220,113.519
ZambiaZMBEastern Africa24,622,122.6154,433,517.31215,357,905.0484,669,062.27275,795.97885,842.005
MozambiqueMOZEastern Africa20,493,012.7823,886,674.34313,553,269.5822,995,025.14353,943.7304,099.984
BrazilBRASouth America20,080,116.8162,196,022.62811,249,574.1665,491,784.5691,109,141.36633,594.087
Central African RepublicCAFMiddle Africa17,928,120.6712,991,740.85211,994,783.2152,822,997.685116,409.4002,189.519
TanzaniaTZAEastern Africa13,034,933.3001,692,519.2488,705,632.7642,587,302.45843,618.6485,860.182
RussiaRUSEastern Europe9,468,121.874685,426.6254,148,987.2532,639,249.8461,968,999.62425,458.526
ChadTCDMiddle Africa7,874,581.704193,622.123484,076.7766,189,983.3681,006,083.733815.704
KazakhstanKAZCentral Asia7,394,991.289622.5113,477.4707,071,822.659267,872.55551,196.094
NigeriaNGAWestern Africa6,581,027.08629,859.025940,333.7862,523,849.3533,084,022.6312,962.291
GhanaGHAWestern Africa6,476,295.1131,888.9972,266,473.6043,344,596.790860,759.8162,575.906
SudanSDNNorthern Africa6,317,275.969321.989171,297.6245,462,741.251682,915.1050.000
EthiopiaETHEastern Africa6,155,401.860141,524.4624,241,741.2511,260,411.335510,501.2571,223.555
MaliMLIWestern Africa5,464,844.90864.398118,276.9304,991,865.982352,276.3512,361.247
United StatesUSANorthern America4,087,809.529495,110.2331,561,620.3841,084,369.760936,190.87310,518.279
ChinaCHNEastern Asia3,981,875.48478,500.684261,432.802199,718.4323,440,506.2941,717.272
IndiaINDSouthern Asia3,859,305.375597,588.280252,631.79945,808.1702,961,881.8441,395.282
ZimbabweZWEEastern Africa3,816,674.15455,618.065605,058.4052,623,000.195532,654.035343.454
MyanmarMMRSouth-eastern Asia3,765,842.9832,247,347.5151,048,822.279137,145.431331,196.8721,330.886
Republic of the CongoCOGMiddle Africa3,684,337.07953,943.7271,519,139.4322,068,236.31716,099.40426,918.199
MadagascarMDGEastern Africa3,493,204.992188,513.248282,684.0073,006,681.10813,459.0971,867.532
CambodiaKHMSouth-eastern Asia3,412,300.1441,009,303.6111,749,532.593261,754.784379,967.32511,741.831

02In 2015

At either end

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

Highest

  1. Australia42,215,805.065
  2. Angola36,959,243.479
  3. DR Congo34,064,034.626
  4. South Sudan31,617,419.450
  5. Zambia24,622,122.615

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 16,593.120. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

  • Burned forest (hectares)

    HighestDR Congo5,025,803.533

    Lowest92 share it

    Middle country: 64.398

  • Burned savanna (hectares)

    HighestDR Congo27,506,727.320

    Lowest71 share it

    Middle country: 987.433

  • Burned shrubland and grassland (hectares)

    HighestAustralia36,197,054.919

    Lowest62 share it

    Middle country: 1,781.668

  • Burned cropland (hectares)

    HighestChina3,440,506.294

    Lowest70 share it

    Middle country: 1,824.599

  • Other burned land (hectares)

    HighestZambia85,842.005

    Lowest116 share it

    Middle country: 0.000

032014 → 2015

Since 2014

  • +0 / −0countries joined / left
  • 166values changed, of 209 in both
  • 98 · 68rose · fell
  • 43unchanged

Rose most

  • Brazil15,782,156.478 → 20,080,116.816+4,297,960.338
  • DR Congo32,246,712.855 → 34,064,034.626+1,817,321.771
  • Tanzania11,262,797.155 → 13,034,933.300+1,772,136.145
  • United States2,364,379.449 → 4,087,809.529+1,723,430.080
  • South Sudan29,940,827.882 → 31,617,419.450+1,676,591.568

Fell most

  • Russia19,278,881.882 → 9,468,121.874−9,810,760.008
  • Australia46,861,641.265 → 42,215,805.065−4,645,836.200
  • China5,415,580.768 → 3,981,875.484−1,433,705.284
  • Senegal3,898,008.317 → 2,758,471.288−1,139,537.029
  • South Africa3,899,575.330 → 2,760,295.899−1,139,279.431

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 2015.

  • 156 distinct values among 209

    Values are stored exactly as published, to 14 decimals. 54 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-2015-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) (2015). Burned Area, 2015 [data set], describing 2015. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/burned-area/2015

0624 held

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