Europe vs Iceland: Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly
Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly over time
- Europe
- Iceland
How they compare
Iceland currently reports 3.89 Percentage change against -1.75 Percentage change in Europe, a difference of 5.64 Percentage change.
That makes Iceland's figure about 2.2 times Europe's.
The two have swapped places 38 times across 76 shared years of data; in 1950 it was Iceland ahead.
Europe ranks 17th and Iceland ranks 17th of 72 groups.
Across the 8 decades both report, Europe averaged higher in 1 and Iceland in 7.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Europe | Iceland | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | -1.58 Percentage change | 0.023 Percentage change | 1.6 Percentage change | Iceland |
| 1960s | 0.1655 Percentage change | 0.8258 Percentage change | 0.6604 Percentage change | Iceland |
| 1970s | 0.9197 Percentage change | 0.6781 Percentage change | 0.2416 Percentage change | Europe |
| 1980s | 0.3824 Percentage change | 1 Percentage change | 0.6187 Percentage change | Iceland |
| 1990s | -0.0356 Percentage change | -0.002 Percentage change | 0.0336 Percentage change | Iceland |
| 2000s | -0.2444 Percentage change | -0.2222 Percentage change | 0.0223 Percentage change | Iceland |
| 2010s | -1.31 Percentage change | -0.5342 Percentage change | 0.7712 Percentage change | Iceland |
| 2020s | -1.94 Percentage change | 1.42 Percentage change | 3.35 Percentage change | Iceland |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher historical exposure to drought — land soil moisture anomaly, Europe or Iceland?
- Iceland, at 3.89 Percentage change against -1.75 Percentage change in Europe as of 2025.
- What is the difference in historical exposure to drought — land soil moisture anomaly between Europe and Iceland?
- 5.64 Percentage change, with Iceland ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Europe and Iceland?
- 76 years are reported by both, from 1950 to 2025.
- How do Europe and Iceland rank globally for historical exposure to drought — land soil moisture anomaly?
- Europe ranks 17th and Iceland ranks 17th of 72 groups.
- 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