Southern Asia vs Sri Lanka: Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly
Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly over time
- Southern Asia
- Sri Lanka
How they compare
Sri Lanka currently reports 5.24 Percentage change against 0.4009 Percentage change in Southern Asia, a difference of 4.84 Percentage change.
That makes Sri Lanka's figure about 13.1 times Southern Asia's.
The two have swapped places 21 times across 76 shared years of data; in 1950 it was Southern Asia ahead.
Southern Asia ranks 13th and Sri Lanka ranks 12th of 72 groups.
Across the 8 decades both report, Southern Asia averaged higher in 4 and Sri Lanka in 4.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Southern Asia | Sri Lanka | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | 5.42 Percentage change | -2.89 Percentage change | 8.31 Percentage change | Southern Asia |
| 1960s | -2.65 Percentage change | 6.55 Percentage change | 9.2 Percentage change | Sri Lanka |
| 1970s | 0.4295 Percentage change | -1.13 Percentage change | 1.56 Percentage change | Southern Asia |
| 1980s | -0.3548 Percentage change | -0.9176 Percentage change | 0.5628 Percentage change | Southern Asia |
| 1990s | 2.27 Percentage change | -1.65 Percentage change | 3.93 Percentage change | Southern Asia |
| 2000s | -1.68 Percentage change | 1.4 Percentage change | 3.08 Percentage change | Sri Lanka |
| 2010s | -0.0259 Percentage change | 3.71 Percentage change | 3.74 Percentage change | Sri Lanka |
| 2020s | 1.64 Percentage change | 4.4 Percentage change | 2.76 Percentage change | Sri Lanka |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher historical exposure to drought — land soil moisture anomaly, Southern Asia or Sri Lanka?
- Sri Lanka, at 5.24 Percentage change against 0.4009 Percentage change in Southern Asia as of 2025.
- What is the difference in historical exposure to drought — land soil moisture anomaly between Southern Asia and Sri Lanka?
- 4.84 Percentage change, with Sri Lanka ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Southern Asia and Sri Lanka?
- 76 years are reported by both, from 1950 to 2025.
- How do Southern Asia and Sri Lanka rank globally for historical exposure to drought — land soil moisture anomaly?
- Southern Asia ranks 13th and Sri Lanka ranks 12th 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