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Data for 2018

Burned Area, 2018

2018, 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, 2018 covers 209 countries on 6 measures. Australia is highest, at 52,223,020.698; 54 countries share the lowest reading, 0.000. The middle country reads 7,233.997. Against 2017, 162 values changed (65 up, 97 down), the same countries are covered.

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Burned Area · Data for 2018

HighestAustralia

52,223,020.698

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, 2018, 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, 2018: every country, as published by European Commission Joint Research Centre — Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS).
AustraliaAUSAustralia and New Zealand52,223,020.698323,082.7724,527,537.81147,010,163.599344,248.11717,988.399
South SudanSSDEastern Africa34,778,225.478214,937.73120,979,064.39112,384,839.4841,169,846.84029,537.032
DR CongoCODMiddle Africa31,942,219.5034,323,075.42226,187,392.1891,377,550.57221,165.34633,035.974
AngolaAGOMiddle Africa31,783,050.1061,914,304.59318,014,907.17711,688,637.019156,250.0498,951.268
ZambiaZMBEastern Africa21,586,011.8014,029,744.34313,925,036.9363,544,272.29451,346.35435,611.874
MozambiqueMOZEastern Africa19,861,401.0804,128,272.67213,549,405.7252,128,362.20951,603.9443,756.530
Central African RepublicCAFMiddle Africa18,143,616.5113,603,732.73412,178,853.0272,231,849.162126,927.6722,253.916
RussiaRUSEastern Europe11,946,528.0101,218,080.6607,863,440.9381,464,444.4171,386,373.05014,188.945
TanzaniaTZAEastern Africa9,459,449.6311,213,830.4055,918,783.6012,296,525.81727,540.7092,769.099
BrazilBRASouth America8,678,778.987727,306.5243,930,142.7293,027,975.252979,079.67714,274.805
ChadTCDMiddle Africa8,417,517.890233,419.844458,081.6076,680,242.3151,045,731.19242.932
SudanSDNNorthern Africa5,875,851.868729.840182,202.2834,981,605.294711,292.98521.466
NigeriaNGAWestern Africa5,763,778.56610,647.073600,078.3222,503,392.3782,648,587.4981,073.295
IndiaINDSouthern Asia5,541,821.5131,046,654.229387,995.546270,684.5923,835,843.169643.977
EthiopiaETHEastern Africa5,155,650.556163,655.7783,498,979.304999,772.771492,319.670923.033
GhanaGHAWestern Africa4,895,248.1201,352.3511,583,708.7612,598,443.241710,906.598837.169
MaliMLIWestern Africa4,827,609.17464.39875,860.3764,365,663.704384,367.8221,652.874
Republic of the CongoCOGMiddle Africa3,781,770.65670,300.7191,665,407.8532,022,256.4329,444.98414,360.668
United StatesUSANorthern America3,697,839.118420,194.362774,037.7131,966,573.970523,810.09613,222.977
KazakhstanKAZCentral Asia3,509,969.82321.4666,954.9393,290,073.480210,515.7602,404.178
ArgentinaARGSouth America3,320,340.37229,064.7901,025,188.3601,971,618.452276,695.03117,773.739
MadagascarMDGEastern Africa3,267,448.468110,935.604209,893.2542,936,659.4466,954.9413,005.223
SenegalSENWestern Africa3,262,768.9045,023.014295,992.8472,705,751.111255,873.136128.796
VenezuelaVENSouth America3,221,468.59136,749.5711,260,110.8131,847,416.94674,529.4912,661.770
South AfricaZAFSouthern Africa3,186,178.69385,112.166151,871.0082,743,724.231205,127.834343.454

02In 2018

At either end

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

Highest

  1. Australia52,223,020.698
  2. South Sudan34,778,225.478
  3. DR Congo31,942,219.503
  4. Angola31,783,050.106
  5. Zambia21,586,011.801

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 7,233.997. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

  • Burned forest (hectares)

    HighestDR Congo4,323,075.422

    Lowest94 share it

    Middle country: 42.932

  • Burned savanna (hectares)

    HighestDR Congo26,187,392.189

    Lowest79 share it

    Middle country: 558.113

  • Burned shrubland and grassland (hectares)

    HighestAustralia47,010,163.599

    Lowest65 share it

    Middle country: 815.704

  • Burned cropland (hectares)

    HighestIndia3,835,843.169

    Lowest76 share it

    Middle country: 965.964

  • Other burned land (hectares)

    HighestZambia35,611.874

    Lowest114 share it

    Middle country: 0.000

032017 → 2018

Since 2017

  • +0 / −0countries joined / left
  • 162values changed, of 209 in both
  • 65 · 97rose · fell
  • 47unchanged

Rose most

  • South Sudan26,600,588.666 → 34,778,225.478+8,177,636.812
  • Russia8,092,589.104 → 11,946,528.010+3,853,938.906
  • Australia49,208,526.017 → 52,223,020.698+3,014,494.681
  • Mozambique17,807,718.628 → 19,861,401.080+2,053,682.452
  • Colombia1,316,222.601 → 2,488,688.277+1,172,465.676

Fell most

  • Brazil20,519,888.051 → 8,678,778.987−11,841,109.064
  • Kazakhstan14,327,307.290 → 3,509,969.823−10,817,337.467
  • Angola37,780,033.850 → 31,783,050.106−5,996,983.744
  • DR Congo34,597,955.148 → 31,942,219.503−2,655,735.645
  • China4,107,665.469 → 1,516,112.765−2,591,552.704

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 2018.

  • 152 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-2018-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) (2018). Burned Area, 2018 [data set], describing 2018. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/burned-area/2018

0624 held

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