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Data for 2020

Burned Area, 2020

2020, 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, 2020 covers 209 countries on 6 measures. Angola is highest, at 33,826,235.748; 55 countries share the lowest reading, 0.000. The middle country reads 13,802.553. Against 2019, 162 values changed (84 up, 78 down), the same countries are covered.

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Burned Area · Data for 2020

HighestAngola

33,826,235.748

Lowest55 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, 2020, 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, 2020: every country, as published by European Commission Joint Research Centre — Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS).
AngolaAGOMiddle Africa33,826,235.7482,220,021.46620,390,298.59011,052,453.110157,430.6726,031.910
DR CongoCODMiddle Africa33,479,819.5804,699,243.27427,451,924.9691,277,584.03218,267.45432,799.851
South SudanSSDEastern Africa30,343,012.374605,616.51619,634,979.1149,136,688.840946,773.54218,954.362
BrazilBRASouth America21,503,260.8993,234,670.09010,389,608.5866,122,859.6081,417,133.636338,988.979
ZambiaZMBEastern Africa20,849,582.2973,414,081.80413,953,393.3493,398,862.50551,110.23332,134.406
MozambiqueMOZEastern Africa17,695,301.8743,127,984.72012,804,132.2771,705,978.33851,539.5455,666.994
AustraliaAUSAustralia and New Zealand16,915,876.2381,831,532.1993,846,704.89811,102,747.629111,279.05723,612.455
Central African RepublicCAFMiddle Africa16,694,799.2773,219,901.57211,136,577.8392,239,254.88897,047.1882,017.790
RussiaRUSEastern Europe10,508,958.859557,275.3915,542,014.7182,855,883.3951,479,019.73574,765.620
TanzaniaTZAEastern Africa9,874,427.792969,742.0316,061,960.9422,821,838.52616,764.8444,121.449
ChadTCDMiddle Africa8,130,497.780188,770.839457,072.7146,538,868.107945,678.790107.330
NigeriaNGAWestern Africa7,466,472.656145,645.9121,372,935.4142,916,824.9913,023,617.6817,448.658
SudanSDNNorthern Africa7,369,253.7272,468.575214,057.6306,201,596.408951,088.18242.932
GhanaGHAWestern Africa6,854,394.89739,883.5832,027,579.9603,973,203.254810,229.1653,498.935
MaliMLIWestern Africa6,646,197.452321.988119,114.1006,062,841.036459,949.1423,971.186
ArgentinaARGSouth America5,896,824.047242,285.2522,900,124.5522,068,601.242390,549.994295,263.007
United StatesUSANorthern America4,960,568.784895,792.113991,551.3572,347,013.550712,301.88013,909.884
EthiopiaETHEastern Africa4,631,303.823260,745.8942,886,472.2541,071,361.440409,375.5603,348.675
SenegalSENWestern Africa4,622,524.27616,571.651321,344.0363,834,447.883449,044.4811,116.225
VenezuelaVENSouth America4,604,707.613137,488.8842,124,433.9592,257,007.15780,604.3375,173.276
BoliviaBOLSouth America4,531,079.6811,412,797.5281,989,349.2571,006,577.45367,531.61654,823.827
IndiaINDSouthern Asia4,528,847.256315,827.309177,866.18573,284.4783,961,311.170558.114
KazakhstanKAZCentral Asia4,120,201.5070.0002,876.4273,890,280.600214,637.20712,407.273
GuineaGINWestern Africa3,982,648.23715,777.4183,222,219.883508,268.804234,686.3291,695.803
MyanmarMMRSouth-eastern Asia3,870,875.4682,285,771.417999,923.036206,995.359376,704.5091,481.147

02In 2020

At either end

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

Highest

  1. Angola33,826,235.748
  2. DR Congo33,479,819.580
  3. South Sudan30,343,012.374
  4. Brazil21,503,260.899
  5. Zambia20,849,582.297

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 13,802.553. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

  • Burned forest (hectares)

    HighestDR Congo4,699,243.274

    Lowest98 share it

    Middle country: 85.864

  • Burned savanna (hectares)

    HighestDR Congo27,451,924.969

    Lowest77 share it

    Middle country: 515.180

  • Burned shrubland and grassland (hectares)

    HighestAustralia11,102,747.629

    Lowest61 share it

    Middle country: 3,284.279

  • Burned cropland (hectares)

    HighestIndia3,961,311.170

    Lowest72 share it

    Middle country: 1,373.814

  • Other burned land (hectares)

    HighestBrazil338,988.979

    Lowest115 share it

    Middle country: 0.000

032019 → 2020

Since 2019

  • +0 / −0countries joined / left
  • 162values changed, of 209 in both
  • 84 · 78rose · fell
  • 47unchanged

Rose most

  • South Sudan18,115,775.288 → 30,343,012.374+12,227,237.086
  • Argentina2,207,721.541 → 5,896,824.047+3,689,102.506
  • Namibia916,635.467 → 3,255,921.295+2,339,285.828
  • United States2,792,301.526 → 4,960,568.784+2,168,267.258
  • Ghana4,774,159.160 → 6,854,394.897+2,080,235.737

Fell most

  • Australia36,150,216.393 → 16,915,876.238−19,234,340.155
  • Kazakhstan8,233,211.951 → 4,120,201.507−4,113,010.444
  • Angola37,251,071.930 → 33,826,235.748−3,424,836.182
  • Indonesia2,086,310.596 → 170,481.930−1,915,828.666
  • Zambia22,762,534.515 → 20,849,582.297−1,912,952.218

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 2020.

  • 152 distinct values among 209

    Values are stored exactly as published, to 14 decimals. 55 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-2020-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) (2020). Burned Area, 2020 [data set], describing 2020. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/burned-area/2020

0624 held

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