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Data for 2021

Temperature Change on Land, 2021

2021, as FAO’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

This is how much warmer — or, occasionally, colder — a country's land surface was over a year than its own average for 1951–1980, in degrees Celsius. FAO calculates it for every country from NASA's global surface temperature record, which makes it the plainest country-by-country measure of how far the climate has already moved.

Temperature Change on Land, 2021 covers 193 countries on 2 measures. Kuwait is highest, at 2.726; Botswana is lowest, at -0.322. The middle country reads 1.270. Against 2020, 191 values changed (66 up, 125 down), 2 countries joined.

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Temperature Change on Land · Data for 2021

HighestKuwait

2.726

LowestBotswana

-0.322

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the highest end.

01Values only

The table

Every country and every column of Temperature Change on Land, 2021, as published. The file carries values only, so no position is shown. “=” marks a shared position.

Showing 25 of 193 countries · select a heading to sort

Temperature Change on Land, 2021: every country, as published by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
KuwaitKWTWestern Asia2.7260.516
IraqIRQWestern Asia2.6600.549
CanadaCANNorthern America2.5240.642
BahrainBHRWestern Asia2.4340.397
TunisiaTUNNorthern Africa2.3720.421
AlgeriaDZANorthern Africa2.3330.401
Saudi ArabiaSAUWestern Asia2.2240.424
QatarQATWestern Asia2.1790.396
SyriaSYRWestern Asia2.1750.561
ArmeniaARMWestern Asia2.1420.764
EstoniaESTNorthern Europe2.1350.899
MaltaMLTSouthern Europe2.0910.365
AzerbaijanAZEWestern Asia2.0850.689
IranIRNSouthern Asia2.0750.488
North KoreaPRKEastern Asia2.0670.499
MongoliaMNGEastern Asia2.0220.602
FinlandFINNorthern Europe1.9410.986
LebanonLBNWestern Asia1.9360.500
LatviaLVANorthern Europe1.9270.883
MauritaniaMRTWestern Africa1.9170.465
JordanJORWestern Asia1.9010.533
MaliMLIWestern Africa1.9000.401
LibyaLBYNorthern Africa1.8970.386
SenegalSENWestern Africa1.8920.432
TürkiyeTURWestern Asia1.8660.628

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. Kuwait2.726
  2. Iraq2.660
  3. Canada2.524
  4. Bahrain2.434
  5. Tunisia2.372

Lowest

  1. Botswana-0.322
  2. Namibia0.015
  3. Zimbabwe0.111
  4. Solomon Islands0.302
  5. Eswatini0.566

Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score. The middle country reads 1.270. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

  • Standard deviation of the 1951–1980 baseline (°C)

    HighestFinland0.986

    LowestIndonesia0.153

    Middle country: 0.321

032020 → 2021

Since 2020

  • +2 / −0countries joined / left
  • 191values changed, of 191 in both
  • 66 · 125rose · fell
  • 0unchanged

Rose most

Fell most

+ Cabo Verde+ Eritrea

04Caveats

Read before you use

How values are stored

  • One year of the 2026 release

    Every year in this series comes from FAO’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.

  • 182 distinct values among 193

    Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 3 countries share 1.146. Countries sharing a value share a position too.

  • Nothing missing

    Every one of the 193 countries has every column.

05The files

Download and cite

Licence in full

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

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) (2021). Temperature Change on Land, 2021 [data set], describing 2021. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/temperature-change/2021

0665 held

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