New Zealand vs North West: Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly
Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly over time
- New Zealand
- North West
How they compare
North West currently reports 8.72 Percentage change against -0.2131 Percentage change in New Zealand, a difference of 8.93 Percentage change.
That makes North West's figure about 40.9 times New Zealand's.
The two have swapped places 32 times across 76 shared years of data; in 1950 it was North West ahead.
New Zealand ranks 57th and North West ranks 60th of 191 countries.
Across the 8 decades both report, New Zealand averaged higher in 6 and North West in 2.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | New Zealand | North West | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | -2.33 Percentage change | -6.3 Percentage change | 3.96 Percentage change | New Zealand |
| 1960s | 0.0446 Percentage change | -1.83 Percentage change | 1.87 Percentage change | New Zealand |
| 1970s | -0.8204 Percentage change | 3.72 Percentage change | 4.54 Percentage change | North West |
| 1980s | 1.29 Percentage change | 0.2123 Percentage change | 1.07 Percentage change | New Zealand |
| 1990s | 0.1263 Percentage change | -0.2218 Percentage change | 0.3481 Percentage change | New Zealand |
| 2000s | -0.4346 Percentage change | -0.5911 Percentage change | 0.1565 Percentage change | New Zealand |
| 2010s | -1.59 Percentage change | -6.52 Percentage change | 4.93 Percentage change | New Zealand |
| 2020s | -1.36 Percentage change | 0.6635 Percentage change | 2.02 Percentage change | North West |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher historical exposure to drought — land soil moisture anomaly, New Zealand or North West?
- North West, at 8.72 Percentage change against -0.2131 Percentage change in New Zealand as of 2025.
- What is the difference in historical exposure to drought — land soil moisture anomaly between New Zealand and North West?
- 8.93 Percentage change, with North West ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for New Zealand and North West?
- 76 years are reported by both, from 1950 to 2025.
- How do New Zealand and North West rank globally for historical exposure to drought — land soil moisture anomaly?
- New Zealand ranks 57th and North West ranks 60th 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