15.4.2a Mountain green cover area: Alpine; Land Cover: Permanent snow and glaciers — Value by country
As the custodian agency of 22 SDG indicators, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is responsible for curating and refining the methodologies of these indicators, collecting data from national sources, ensuring their quality and compatibility with applicable standards and...
What the numbers show
15.4.2a Mountain green cover area: Alpine; Land Cover: Permanent snow and glaciers — Value is currently reported for 35 countries. The highest value is 36,862 km2 in China, mainland; the lowest is 0 km2 in Armenia.
The median across all reporting countries is 96.9 km2, and the mean is 2,146 km2.
Over the past decade 7 countries rose and 24 fell. The largest increase was in Japan (up 133.3%), and the largest decrease in Uganda (down 50.0%).
15.4.2a Mountain green cover area: Alpine; Land Cover: Permanent snow: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China, mainland | 36,862 km2 | 2021 | down 5.3% | falling |
| 2 | Chile | 17,628 km2 | 2021 | down 6.1% | falling |
| 3 | Kyrgyzstan | 4,272 km2 | 2021 | down 4.9% | falling |
| 4 | India | 4,106 km2 | 2021 | down 15.8% | falling |
| 5 | Nepal | 2,935 km2 | 2021 | down 8.3% | falling |
| 5 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 0.1 km2 | 2021 | unchanged | falling |
| 6 | Russian Federation | 1,626 km2 | 2021 | up 5.7% | falling |
| 7 | Tajikistan | 1,121 km2 | 2021 | down 11.4% | falling |
| 8 | Afghanistan | 985.5 km2 | 2021 | down 8.2% | falling |
| 9 | Pakistan | 968.5 km2 | 2021 | down 8.2% | falling |
| 10 | Bhutan | 915.2 km2 | 2021 | down 1.4% | flat |
| 11 | Kazakhstan | 887.9 km2 | 2021 | up 3.5% | flat |
| 12 | Peru | 636.5 km2 | 2021 | down 12.1% | falling |
| 13 | Australia and New Zealand | 437.9 km2 | 2021 | down 7.3% | falling |
| 13 | New Zealand | 437.9 km2 | 2021 | down 7.3% | falling |
| 15 | Iceland | 388.7 km2 | 2021 | down 14.0% | falling |
| 16 | Mongolia | 361.7 km2 | 2021 | down 1.7% | falling |
| 17 | Georgia | 193.3 km2 | 2021 | down 18.1% | falling |
| 18 | Sweden | 96.9 km2 | 2021 | down 1.1% | flat |
| 19 | Myanmar | 72.2 km2 | 2021 | up 20.3% | falling |
| 20 | Ecuador | 41.3 km2 | 2021 | down 1.4% | flat |
| 21 | Italy | 30.2 km2 | 2021 | up 0.7% | flat |
| 22 | Uzbekistan | 26.4 km2 | 2021 | up 2.7% | flat |
| 23 | Austria | 25.9 km2 | 2021 | down 14.0% | falling |
| 24 | Switzerland | 25.3 km2 | 2021 | down 24.3% | falling |
| 25 | Colombia | 22.1 km2 | 2021 | down 16.6% | falling |
| 26 | France | 10.5 km2 | 2021 | unchanged | falling |
| 27 | Japan | 2.8 km2 | 2021 | up 133.3% | rising |
| 28 | Mexico | 1.4 km2 | 2021 | down 22.2% | falling |
| 28 | Azerbaijan | 1.4 km2 | 2021 | down 22.2% | falling |
| 30 | Indonesia | 0.7 km2 | 2021 | down 41.7% | falling |
| 31 | Uganda | 0.4 km2 | 2021 | down 50.0% | falling |
| 32 | Slovenia | 0.3 km2 | 2021 | unchanged | falling |
| 32 | Spain | 0.3 km2 | 2021 | up 50.0% | rising |
| 34 | Armenia | 0 km2 | 2021 | — | volatile |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- World 133,839 km2
- Least Developed Countries (LDCs) 3,994 km2
- Northern America and Europe 58,692 km2
- Bolivia (Plurinational State of) 243.2 km2
- Northern America 56,024 km2
- United Republic of Tanzania 0.7 km2
- Eastern Asia and South-eastern Asia 37,299 km2
- Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) 0.2 km2
- Eastern Asia 37,226 km2
- United States of America 33,457 km2
- Latin America and the Caribbean 20,996 km2
- Central Asia and Southern Asia 16,219 km2
- Land Locked Developing Countries (LLDCs) 11,751 km2
- Southern Asia 9,911 km2
- Central Asia 6,308 km2
- Europe 2,668 km2
- Oceania 437.9 km2
- Western Asia 194.7 km2
- Western Asia and Northern Africa 194.7 km2
- South-Eastern Asia 72.8 km2
- Sub-Saharan Africa 1.2 km2
About this data
As the custodian agency of 22 SDG indicators, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is responsible for curating and refining the methodologies of these indicators, collecting data from national sources, ensuring their quality and compatibility with applicable standards and classifications, and disseminating data at global level. This FAOSTAT domain complements the global SDG database administered by the United Nations Statistical Division (UNSD), as well as FAO’s SDG indicators portal, by providing access to the available data for all SDG Indicators under FAO custodianship. While this metadata page provides summary information on all SDG indicators data disseminated through FAOSTAT, indicator-specific metadata can be accessed from the link on the right hand navigation column. This additional metadata file provides details on the methodology used to compile each indicators, their data sources and the contact information of the relevant FAO focal point. It includes the links to the official SDG Indicator metadata documents accessible from the UNSD global SDG database.SDG Indicators under FAO custodianship, consisting of 22 indicators and 66 series that fall under six goals: • Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.• Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.• Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.• Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production.• Goal 14: Life below water: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources.• Goal 15: Life on land: Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss.