Costa Rica vs Western Europe: Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly
Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly over time
- Costa Rica
- Western Europe
How they compare
Costa Rica currently reports 2.9 Percentage change against -3.1 Percentage change in Western Europe, a difference of 6 Percentage change.
The two have swapped places 34 times across 76 shared years of data; in 1950 it was Costa Rica ahead.
Costa Rica ranks 26th and Western Europe ranks 29th of 191 countries.
Across the 8 decades both report, Costa Rica averaged higher in 5 and Western Europe in 3.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Costa Rica | Western Europe | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | 1.31 Percentage change | -1.3 Percentage change | 2.61 Percentage change | Costa Rica |
| 1960s | 0.7417 Percentage change | 1.3 Percentage change | 0.5559 Percentage change | Western Europe |
| 1970s | 1.83 Percentage change | 2.19 Percentage change | 0.3599 Percentage change | Western Europe |
| 1980s | -0.2412 Percentage change | 1.44 Percentage change | 1.68 Percentage change | Western Europe |
| 1990s | -0.3292 Percentage change | -0.6261 Percentage change | 0.2969 Percentage change | Costa Rica |
| 2000s | 0.3127 Percentage change | -0.3197 Percentage change | 0.6324 Percentage change | Costa Rica |
| 2010s | 0.4228 Percentage change | -1.5 Percentage change | 1.93 Percentage change | Costa Rica |
| 2020s | 0.1162 Percentage change | -0.7373 Percentage change | 0.8535 Percentage change | Costa Rica |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher historical exposure to drought — land soil moisture anomaly, Costa Rica or Western Europe?
- Costa Rica, at 2.9 Percentage change against -3.1 Percentage change in Western Europe as of 2025.
- What is the difference in historical exposure to drought — land soil moisture anomaly between Costa Rica and Western Europe?
- 6 Percentage change, with Costa Rica ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Costa Rica and Western Europe?
- 76 years are reported by both, from 1950 to 2025.
- How do Costa Rica and Western Europe rank globally for historical exposure to drought — land soil moisture anomaly?
- Costa Rica ranks 26th and Western Europe ranks 29th 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