Canada vs United States: Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly
Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly over time
- Canada
- United States
How they compare
Canada currently reports -2.52 Percentage change against -2.64 Percentage change in United States, a difference of 0.12 Percentage change.
The two have swapped places 23 times across 76 shared years of data; in 1950 it was United States ahead.
Canada ranks 81st and United States ranks 84th of 191 countries.
Across the 8 decades both report, Canada averaged higher in 5 and United States in 3.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Canada | United States | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | -0.5914 Percentage change | -3.03 Percentage change | 2.44 Percentage change | Canada |
| 1960s | -0.7684 Percentage change | -2.75 Percentage change | 1.98 Percentage change | Canada |
| 1970s | -0.705 Percentage change | -0.5913 Percentage change | 0.1137 Percentage change | United States |
| 1980s | 0.0566 Percentage change | 2.02 Percentage change | 1.97 Percentage change | United States |
| 1990s | -0.3218 Percentage change | 0.7968 Percentage change | 1.12 Percentage change | United States |
| 2000s | 0.2537 Percentage change | -2.66 Percentage change | 2.92 Percentage change | Canada |
| 2010s | -0.2376 Percentage change | -1.89 Percentage change | 1.65 Percentage change | Canada |
| 2020s | -1.08 Percentage change | -2.66 Percentage change | 1.58 Percentage change | Canada |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher historical exposure to drought — land soil moisture anomaly, Canada or United States?
- Canada, at -2.52 Percentage change against -2.64 Percentage change in United States as of 2025.
- What is the difference in historical exposure to drought — land soil moisture anomaly between Canada and United States?
- 0.12 Percentage change, with Canada ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Canada and United States?
- 76 years are reported by both, from 1950 to 2025.
- How do Canada and United States rank globally for historical exposure to drought — land soil moisture anomaly?
- Canada ranks 81st and United States ranks 84th of 191 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, published as Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
The dataset provides annual anomalies in land and cropland soil moisture content of the top soil layer (0 to 7 cm) compared to the reference period 1981-2010. Exposure indicators to drought have been prepared by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Please see the working paper for a more complete description of the methods. The datasets span the period 1981-2024 and is the result of the use of a variety of geospatial data sources, including the ERA5-Land averaged monthly data of volumetric soil moisture and ESA CCI land cover data. Average anomalies have been calculated for both land and cropland exposure to drought. The dataset has a global coverage on a national level; on the sub-national TL2 level (i.e. large subnational regions) results are reported for all OECD countries as well as for Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and South Africa. A number of aggregates are included: Euro area, European Union, Advanced economies, Emerging market economies, G7, G20, OECD, OECD Europe, OECD Asia Oceania, OECD Americas and the LAC region. Data source(s): Copernicus Climate Change Initiative land cover data and Copernicus Climate Data Store monthly soil moisture data based on the ERA5-Land reanalysis dataset. Contact: ENV.Stat@oecd.org