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Data for 2017

Burned Area, 2017

2017, 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, 2017 covers 209 countries on 6 measures. Australia is highest, at 49,208,526.017; 53 countries share the lowest reading, 0.000. The middle country reads 18,589.444. Against 2016, 163 values changed (71 up, 92 down), the same countries are covered.

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Burned Area · Data for 2017

HighestAustralia

49,208,526.017

Lowest53 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, 2017, 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, 2017: every country, as published by European Commission Joint Research Centre — Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS).
AustraliaAUSAustralia and New Zealand49,208,526.017192,248.3133,375,035.39144,647,372.654980,110.03813,759.621
AngolaAGOMiddle Africa37,780,033.8503,074,212.72822,015,028.61712,511,831.562165,695.03413,265.909
DR CongoCODMiddle Africa34,597,955.1485,072,448.85028,268,744.1581,200,221.03920,886.29135,654.810
South SudanSSDEastern Africa26,600,588.666175,934.24817,159,964.6128,249,933.862968,754.59046,001.354
ZambiaZMBEastern Africa21,602,926.9024,358,451.17013,478,783.0213,668,988.97961,950.49334,753.239
BrazilBRASouth America20,519,888.0512,467,887.84411,225,897.3105,608,816.4851,179,270.35938,016.053
MozambiqueMOZEastern Africa17,807,718.6284,021,565.85111,841,495.4561,898,291.04544,434.3451,931.931
Central African RepublicCAFMiddle Africa17,235,910.8533,491,380.38511,109,187.3992,502,855.735129,589.4432,897.891
KazakhstanKAZCentral Asia14,327,307.2900.0001,459.68013,740,172.885582,690.9682,983.757
TanzaniaTZAEastern Africa10,215,348.6931,643,276.5446,870,258.1741,658,195.32937,350.6136,268.033
RussiaRUSEastern Europe8,092,589.104748,149.8883,935,036.9531,666,674.3411,728,732.17113,995.751
ChadTCDMiddle Africa7,400,443.629230,414.620477,250.6305,575,995.1581,116,590.027193.194
NigeriaNGAWestern Africa7,371,657.90831,340.1701,017,374.7812,872,240.3813,446,495.2634,207.313
SudanSDNNorthern Africa6,354,068.459386.386242,070.5865,299,493.327812,118.1600.000
GhanaGHAWestern Africa6,157,204.9922,146.5881,203,204.7963,657,504.7371,292,867.7261,481.145
MaliMLIWestern Africa5,777,666.988150.261100,653.4515,179,434.731494,530.6532,897.892
ArgentinaARGSouth America5,240,247.550141,545.9352,383,827.4992,372,343.263329,222.01113,308.842
IndiaINDSouthern Asia5,175,420.6371,264,618.646328,857.091216,096.8913,364,903.509944.500
EthiopiaETHEastern Africa4,915,104.048170,911.2383,279,190.293909,916.652554,356.025729.840
BotswanaBWASouthern Africa4,821,190.875171.72712,815.1234,768,127.250171.72739,905.048
GuineaGINWestern Africa4,391,615.94110,196.2903,609,378.263462,396.247305,502.2284,142.913
SenegalSENWestern Africa4,245,776.8343,842.389356,032.8763,551,227.229333,257.5931,416.747
ChinaCHNEastern Asia4,107,665.46945,679.374188,642.047145,817.6463,723,555.2143,971.188
United StatesUSANorthern America3,909,406.715455,570.110857,883.3842,057,760.983522,844.14215,348.096
Republic of the CongoCOGMiddle Africa3,604,269.39232,692.5171,489,859.9892,066,025.3376,890.5458,801.004

02In 2017

At either end

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

Highest

  1. Australia49,208,526.017
  2. Angola37,780,033.850
  3. DR Congo34,597,955.148
  4. South Sudan26,600,588.666
  5. Zambia21,602,926.902

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 18,589.444. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

  • Burned forest (hectares)

    HighestDR Congo5,072,448.850

    Lowest87 share it

    Middle country: 171.727

  • Burned savanna (hectares)

    HighestDR Congo28,268,744.158

    Lowest78 share it

    Middle country: 1,073.294

  • Burned shrubland and grassland (hectares)

    HighestAustralia44,647,372.654

    Lowest64 share it

    Middle country: 1,567.008

  • Burned cropland (hectares)

    HighestChina3,723,555.214

    Lowest70 share it

    Middle country: 1,438.213

  • Other burned land (hectares)

    HighestCanada50,165.732

    Lowest108 share it

    Middle country: 0.000

032016 → 2017

Since 2016

  • +0 / −0countries joined / left
  • 163values changed, of 209 in both
  • 71 · 92rose · fell
  • 46unchanged

Rose most

  • Australia24,290,711.075 → 49,208,526.017+24,917,814.942
  • Kazakhstan2,454,278.479 → 14,327,307.290+11,873,028.811
  • Brazil15,856,363.970 → 20,519,888.051+4,663,524.081
  • Botswana1,470,884.170 → 4,821,190.875+3,350,306.705
  • China1,505,229.576 → 4,107,665.469+2,602,435.893

Fell most

  • South Sudan33,231,545.344 → 26,600,588.666−6,630,956.678
  • Central African Republic21,373,242.120 → 17,235,910.853−4,137,331.267
  • Chad10,259,503.960 → 7,400,443.629−2,859,060.331
  • Zambia24,121,044.873 → 21,602,926.902−2,518,117.971
  • Tanzania12,549,268.038 → 10,215,348.693−2,333,919.345

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 2017.

  • 152 distinct values among 209

    Values are stored exactly as published, to 14 decimals. 53 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-2017-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) (2017). Burned Area, 2017 [data set], describing 2017. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/burned-area/2017

0624 held

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