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Data for 2021

Burned Area, 2021

2021, 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, 2021 covers 209 countries on 6 measures. Angola is highest, at 34,489,337.85; 59 countries share the lowest reading, 0.00. The middle country reads 9,359.12. Against 2020, 160 values changed (63 up, 97 down), the same countries are covered.

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Burned Area · Data for 2021

HighestAngola

34,489,337.85

Lowest59 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, 2021, 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, 2021: every country, as published by European Commission Joint Research Centre — Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS).
AngolaAGOMiddle Africa34,489,337.852,084,443.05020,810,514.40611,425,229.359163,333.7825,817.250
DR CongoCODMiddle Africa33,362,272.504,382,085.09327,573,271.5191,343,677.43621,487.33541,751.118
South SudanSSDEastern Africa28,143,426.41361,141.75316,231,200.92510,707,196.091835,236.8998,650.745
AustraliaAUSAustralia and New Zealand26,610,248.2965,535.2963,019,732.35122,986,359.107526,858.24411,763.294
ZambiaZMBEastern Africa20,345,692.522,902,120.86913,335,133.4394,031,697.73851,217.56025,522.918
MozambiqueMOZEastern Africa18,182,040.443,251,649.59112,195,896.9302,680,593.11747,611.2986,289.503
Central African RepublicCAFMiddle Africa16,682,005.613,316,841.42110,816,414.4272,444,060.727102,628.3122,060.726
BrazilBRASouth America15,723,619.071,645,251.4127,663,293.1834,839,157.8131,412,861.934163,054.731
RussiaRUSEastern Europe12,612,506.53574,877.4049,143,686.7272,002,057.059873,081.23418,804.103
BotswanaBWASouthern Africa10,595,294.5321.46613,244.43910,564,040.2241,266.48616,721.911
TanzaniaTZAEastern Africa9,995,817.261,162,419.6516,032,016.0482,769,590.59925,544.3866,246.571
ChadTCDMiddle Africa8,028,255.85160,822.279450,117.7726,238,625.0261,178,111.196579.579
NigeriaNGAWestern Africa7,776,890.5649,543.227821,584.6143,500,031.1373,402,855.1532,876.426
IndiaINDSouthern Asia6,785,081.621,810,946.430486,674.155353,242.3194,133,725.004493.717
MaliMLIWestern Africa6,685,587.3242.93270,236.3195,998,507.833611,863.0854,937.150
SudanSDNNorthern Africa6,518,132.082,125.121256,259.5245,487,298.197772,341.909107.330
KazakhstanKAZCentral Asia5,219,876.43729.84111,162.2534,973,555.597176,277.70358,151.036
South AfricaZAFSouthern Africa5,183,599.1222,217.176138,948.5624,645,922.068376,189.329321.990
EthiopiaETHEastern Africa4,996,008.89252,245.4053,221,726.1661,051,655.769468,685.7491,695.805
SenegalSENWestern Africa4,694,842.7812,707.796268,988.7863,815,665.250596,944.305536.647
BoliviaBOLSouth America4,595,198.231,621,488.6922,030,842.777817,441.69683,115.83742,309.224
GhanaGHAWestern Africa4,491,346.362,468.577867,049.3152,849,572.424769,508.4102,747.632
NamibiaNAMSouthern Africa3,931,623.8721.466193.1933,919,066.33912,299.94342.932
United StatesUSANorthern America3,848,787.10621,265.1431,201,358.7411,367,633.338646,873.90711,655.972
CanadaCANNorthern America3,629,921.10574,040.2272,872,133.049102,327.78936,234.38545,185.648

02In 2021

At either end

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

Highest

  1. Angola34,489,337.85
  2. DR Congo33,362,272.50
  3. South Sudan28,143,426.41
  4. Australia26,610,248.29
  5. Zambia20,345,692.52

Lowest

  1. Samoashared0.00
  2. Vanuatushared0.00
  3. United States Virgin Islandsshared0.00
  4. British Virgin Islandsshared0.00
  5. Saint Vincent and the Grenadinesshared0.00

Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score. The middle country reads 9,359.12. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

  • Burned forest (hectares)

    HighestDR Congo4,382,085.093

    Lowest96 share it

    Middle country: 42.932

  • Burned savanna (hectares)

    HighestDR Congo27,573,271.519

    Lowest82 share it

    Middle country: 450.785

  • Burned shrubland and grassland (hectares)

    HighestAustralia22,986,359.107

    Lowest67 share it

    Middle country: 2,253.915

  • Burned cropland (hectares)

    HighestIndia4,133,725.004

    Lowest70 share it

    Middle country: 1,116.225

  • Other burned land (hectares)

    HighestBrazil163,054.731

    Lowest122 share it

    Middle country: 0.000

032020 → 2021

Since 2020

  • +0 / −0countries joined / left
  • 160values changed, of 209 in both
  • 63 · 97rose · fell
  • 49unchanged

Rose most

  • Australia16,915,876.24 → 26,610,248.29+9,694,372.05
  • Botswana3,215,028.82 → 10,595,294.53+7,380,265.71
  • Canada263,772.58 → 3,629,921.10+3,366,148.51
  • India4,528,847.26 → 6,785,081.62+2,256,234.37
  • South Africa3,035,574.18 → 5,183,599.12+2,148,024.94

Fell most

  • Brazil21,503,260.90 → 15,723,619.07−5,779,641.83
  • Argentina5,896,824.05 → 2,455,652.31−3,441,171.74
  • Ghana6,854,394.90 → 4,491,346.36−2,363,048.54
  • Venezuela4,604,707.61 → 2,358,841.25−2,245,866.36
  • South Sudan30,343,012.37 → 28,143,426.41−2,199,585.96

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 2021.

  • 148 distinct values among 209

    Values are stored exactly as published, to 14 decimals. 59 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-2021-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) (2021). Burned Area, 2021 [data set], describing 2021. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/burned-area/2021

0624 held

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