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Data for 2024

Burned Area, 2024

2024, 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, 2024 covers 209 countries on 6 measures. Angola is highest, at 37,843,057.640; 53 countries share the lowest reading, 0.000. The middle country reads 10,453.876. Against 2023, 165 values changed (89 up, 76 down), the same countries are covered.

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Burned Area · Data for 2024

HighestAngola

37,843,057.640

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, 2024, 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, 2024: every country, as published by European Commission Joint Research Centre — Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS).
AngolaAGOMiddle Africa37,843,057.6402,040,760.01521,388,633.14114,216,393.157181,386.58315,884.744
AustraliaAUSAustralia and New Zealand35,172,574.937124,502.0322,614,929.02931,859,382.708556,760.20117,000.967
DR CongoCODMiddle Africa33,963,102.1143,670,727.71728,422,160.7031,807,039.63815,262.23447,911.822
South SudanSSDEastern Africa29,682,314.444500,584.02619,061,733.1269,415,315.798668,382.71436,298.780
BrazilBRASouth America25,085,527.7695,722,800.24010,237,394.1237,036,532.7761,868,496.427220,304.203
ZambiaZMBEastern Africa22,148,803.8942,992,942.94914,933,739.5024,078,106.94143,532.776100,481.726
MozambiqueMOZEastern Africa17,673,449.6282,258,123.37712,556,373.2362,811,212.92043,811.8383,928.257
Central African RepublicCAFMiddle Africa14,757,268.6222,980,621.55010,289,534.7111,456,459.10129,343.8421,309.418
BoliviaBOLSouth America11,002,437.6286,362,676.2723,349,555.4041,170,555.20862,122.22157,528.523
RussiaRUSEastern Europe9,773,538.226494,680.9256,366,153.7481,988,533.561906,525.04517,644.947
TanzaniaTZAEastern Africa8,101,046.623615,082.9644,656,955.5222,801,832.34422,023.9815,151.812
MaliMLIWestern Africa7,385,353.12842.93265,986.0776,847,397.024471,368.982558.113
NigeriaNGAWestern Africa6,697,415.01860,619.618796,276.3542,997,064.3982,839,741.0513,713.597
SudanSDNNorthern Africa6,395,111.1972,189.519265,811.8375,429,855.539697,061.108193.194
ChadTCDMiddle Africa5,960,040.99991,315.802225,863.8554,796,784.179845,239.995837.168
GhanaGHAWestern Africa5,518,337.84516,700.4471,544,147.1673,353,590.986594,990.9108,908.335
VenezuelaVENSouth America5,172,587.145328,298.9812,112,606.2712,661,789.02062,165.1587,727.715
South AfricaZAFSouthern Africa4,703,450.59471,116.420265,039.0684,082,786.498281,782.4412,726.167
CanadaCANNorthern America4,621,472.461531,473.4163,893,221.435114,241.34716,356.99366,179.270
Republic of the CongoCOGMiddle Africa4,533,033.076164,364.1491,982,544.5722,325,483.27615,691.55344,949.526
SenegalSENWestern Africa4,147,162.6392,404.177249,411.9123,381,668.343513,334.752343.455
EthiopiaETHEastern Africa4,012,464.324215,152.3932,391,726.9401,034,118.153366,422.3585,044.480
MadagascarMDGEastern Africa3,942,442.667132,444.404413,969.2523,369,604.52715,133.43711,291.047
ChinaCHNEastern Asia3,828,458.91583,051.442118,813.579134,032.8733,490,221.2402,339.781
United StatesUSANorthern America3,812,745.917298,804.878672,847.6142,240,564.306591,599.3158,929.804

02In 2024

At either end

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

Highest

  1. Angola37,843,057.640
  2. Australia35,172,574.937
  3. DR Congo33,963,102.114
  4. South Sudan29,682,314.444
  5. Brazil25,085,527.769

Lowest

  1. Samoashared0.000
  2. Vanuatushared0.000
  3. British Virgin Islandsshared0.000
  4. Saint Vincent and the Grenadinesshared0.000
  5. Tuvalushared0.000

Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score. The middle country reads 10,453.876. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

  • Burned forest (hectares)

    HighestBolivia6,362,676.272

    Lowest92 share it

    Middle country: 64.398

  • Burned savanna (hectares)

    HighestDR Congo28,422,160.703

    Lowest84 share it

    Middle country: 515.181

  • Burned shrubland and grassland (hectares)

    HighestAustralia31,859,382.708

    Lowest63 share it

    Middle country: 1,717.271

  • Burned cropland (hectares)

    HighestChina3,490,221.240

    Lowest69 share it

    Middle country: 1,202.089

  • Other burned land (hectares)

    HighestBrazil220,304.203

    Lowest111 share it

    Middle country: 0.000

032023 → 2024

Since 2023

  • +0 / −0countries joined / left
  • 165values changed, of 209 in both
  • 89 · 76rose · fell
  • 44unchanged

Rose most

  • Brazil11,758,207.932 → 25,085,527.769+13,327,319.837
  • Bolivia5,625,366.673 → 11,002,437.628+5,377,070.955
  • South Sudan24,668,767.935 → 29,682,314.444+5,013,546.509
  • DR Congo30,960,199.010 → 33,963,102.114+3,002,903.104
  • Central African Republic11,966,340.947 → 14,757,268.622+2,790,927.675

Fell most

  • Australia72,487,228.763 → 35,172,574.937−37,314,653.826
  • Canada13,319,248.708 → 4,621,472.461−8,697,776.247
  • Botswana10,637,131.509 → 2,191,343.072−8,445,788.437
  • Mongolia1,948,306.514 → 262,978.340−1,685,328.174
  • Sudan7,933,634.310 → 6,395,111.197−1,538,523.113

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 2024.

  • 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-2024-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) (2024). Burned Area, 2024 [data set], describing 2024. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/burned-area/2024

0624 held

Other years