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Data for 2022

Burned Area, 2022

2022, 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, 2022 covers 209 countries on 6 measures. Angola is highest, at 33,837,827.317; 56 countries share the lowest reading, 0.000. The middle country reads 10,711.468. Against 2021, 160 values changed (70 up, 90 down), the same countries are covered.

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Burned Area · Data for 2022

HighestAngola

33,837,827.317

Lowest56 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, 2022, 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, 2022: every country, as published by European Commission Joint Research Centre — Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS).
AngolaAGOMiddle Africa33,837,827.3171,625,137.88920,420,994.78011,585,214.462194,180.23912,299.947
DR CongoCODMiddle Africa33,203,081.6163,670,620.38728,055,223.1711,403,760.39523,569.52449,908.139
AustraliaAUSAustralia and New Zealand28,176,805.83769,184.4912,688,234.96424,895,211.367514,408.0449,766.971
ZambiaZMBEastern Africa22,253,686.1452,720,133.24615,355,393.5384,055,825.37464,247.34758,086.640
South SudanSSDEastern Africa21,364,569.918311,298.00713,905,567.3966,473,139.629654,172.31120,392.575
MozambiqueMOZEastern Africa20,968,911.0463,078,978.14914,983,991.1032,850,151.99750,723.8495,065.948
Central African RepublicCAFMiddle Africa17,874,906.7953,490,435.89412,517,520.0161,753,589.637110,720.9462,640.302
BrazilBRASouth America13,514,738.3881,982,802.1745,953,000.2054,730,733.713823,022.83025,179.466
TanzaniaTZAEastern Africa8,945,041.606829,183.5255,926,403.9902,146,822.86333,508.2279,123.001
NigeriaNGAWestern Africa8,759,147.17444,885.1251,171,714.3733,249,803.5164,289,309.6193,434.541
RussiaRUSEastern Europe7,759,202.698581,832.3343,982,433.5851,752,323.1551,424,324.70018,288.924
BotswanaBWASouthern Africa7,530,956.103171.7273,348.6757,519,364.5332,125.1215,946.047
GhanaGHAWestern Africa6,600,711.27813,115.6471,724,138.4663,862,718.429996,810.4823,928.254
ChadTCDMiddle Africa6,472,173.67187,194.355242,414.0415,044,350.0321,098,150.84564.398
MaliMLIWestern Africa6,327,214.65821.46662,637.4005,522,523.691738,447.3013,584.800
IndiaINDSouthern Asia5,721,512.286776,699.488344,226.648259,651.1294,340,097.851837.170
SudanSDNNorthern Africa4,672,410.954214.659176,835.8153,816,287.762678,922.457150.261
SenegalSENWestern Africa4,526,722.1015,967.512181,708.5663,484,425.449854,169.790450.784
ArgentinaARGSouth America4,463,075.815240,847.0382,178,163.0211,639,369.759265,253.720139,442.277
BoliviaBOLSouth America4,340,269.5921,083,833.1102,357,488.883817,763.68962,894.99018,288.920
GuineaGINWestern Africa4,082,507.45111,462.7773,254,783.602475,018.179339,912.0091,330.884
EthiopiaETHEastern Africa4,005,530.841165,373.0422,574,444.398827,423.320434,361.8273,928.254
Republic of the CongoCOGMiddle Africa3,943,859.41974,400.6991,463,821.8922,366,933.86716,721.91521,981.046
United StatesUSANorthern America3,468,819.795343,732.943971,094.3791,446,219.891697,941.2139,831.369
South AfricaZAFSouthern Africa3,421,873.91311,698.90198,292.2043,066,699.671244,453.296729.841

02In 2022

At either end

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

Highest

  1. Angola33,837,827.317
  2. DR Congo33,203,081.616
  3. Australia28,176,805.837
  4. Zambia22,253,686.145
  5. South Sudan21,364,569.918

Lowest

  1. Samoashared0.000
  2. Vanuatushared0.000
  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 10,711.468. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

  • Burned forest (hectares)

    HighestDR Congo3,670,620.387

    Lowest90 share it

    Middle country: 85.864

  • Burned savanna (hectares)

    HighestDR Congo28,055,223.171

    Lowest77 share it

    Middle country: 515.182

  • Burned shrubland and grassland (hectares)

    HighestAustralia24,895,211.367

    Lowest70 share it

    Middle country: 2,318.316

  • Burned cropland (hectares)

    HighestIndia4,340,097.851

    Lowest75 share it

    Middle country: 1,352.351

  • Other burned land (hectares)

    HighestArgentina139,442.277

    Lowest118 share it

    Middle country: 0.000

032021 → 2022

Since 2021

  • +0 / −0countries joined / left
  • 160values changed, of 209 in both
  • 70 · 90rose · fell
  • 49unchanged

Rose most

  • Mozambique18,182,040.439 → 20,968,911.046+2,786,870.607
  • Ghana4,491,346.358 → 6,600,711.278+2,109,364.920
  • Argentina2,455,652.309 → 4,463,075.815+2,007,423.506
  • Zambia20,345,692.524 → 22,253,686.145+1,907,993.621
  • Australia26,610,248.292 → 28,176,805.837+1,566,557.545

Fell most

  • South Sudan28,143,426.413 → 21,364,569.918−6,778,856.495
  • Russia12,612,506.527 → 7,759,202.698−4,853,303.829
  • Kazakhstan5,219,876.430 → 1,852,804.868−3,367,071.562
  • Botswana10,595,294.526 → 7,530,956.103−3,064,338.423
  • Canada3,629,921.098 → 1,200,113.722−2,429,807.376

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 2022.

  • 148 distinct values among 209

    Values are stored exactly as published, to 14 decimals. 56 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-2022-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) (2022). Burned Area, 2022 [data set], describing 2022. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/burned-area/2022

0624 held

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