15.4.2a Mountain green cover area: Alpine; Land Cover: Terrestrial barren land — 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: Terrestrial barren land — Value is currently reported for 52 countries. The highest value is 501,221 km2 in China, mainland; the lowest is 0 km2 in North Macedonia.
The median across all reporting countries is 33.9 km2, and the mean is 12,231 km2.
Over the past decade 34 countries rose and 9 fell. The largest increase was in Mexico (up 750.0%), and the largest decrease in Myanmar (down 71.1%).
15.4.2a Mountain green cover area: Alpine; Land Cover: Terrestrial: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China, mainland | 501,221 km2 | 2021 | up 0.2% | flat |
| 2 | Chile | 55,683 km2 | 2021 | up 1.6% | flat |
| 3 | Russian Federation | 15,762 km2 | 2021 | down 0.5% | flat |
| 4 | Tajikistan | 14,824 km2 | 2021 | up 0.5% | flat |
| 5 | Kyrgyzstan | 9,363 km2 | 2021 | up 1.8% | rising |
| 6 | Peru | 7,607 km2 | 2021 | up 1.3% | flat |
| 6 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 0.1 km2 | 2021 | unchanged | falling |
| 7 | India | 7,037 km2 | 2021 | up 11.4% | rising |
| 8 | Afghanistan | 6,217 km2 | 2021 | up 0.6% | flat |
| 9 | Iceland | 4,460 km2 | 2021 | up 1.1% | flat |
| 10 | Pakistan | 2,877 km2 | 2021 | up 1.0% | flat |
| 11 | Sweden | 2,749 km2 | 2021 | up 0.0% | flat |
| 12 | Nepal | 2,386 km2 | 2021 | up 10.9% | rising |
| 13 | France | 1,196 km2 | 2021 | up 0.0% | flat |
| 14 | Italy | 1,016 km2 | 2021 | down 0.6% | flat |
| 15 | Austria | 650.6 km2 | 2021 | up 0.3% | flat |
| 16 | Switzerland | 596.3 km2 | 2021 | down 5.1% | falling |
| 17 | Kazakhstan | 589.1 km2 | 2021 | down 5.0% | falling |
| 18 | Mongolia | 544.1 km2 | 2021 | up 1.1% | flat |
| 19 | Finland | 377.7 km2 | 2021 | up 50.4% | volatile |
| 20 | Spain | 259.5 km2 | 2021 | up 2.5% | rising |
| 21 | Bhutan | 141.7 km2 | 2021 | up 7.8% | falling |
| 22 | Georgia | 92.6 km2 | 2021 | up 76.0% | rising |
| 23 | Uzbekistan | 85.4 km2 | 2021 | down 0.8% | flat |
| 24 | Bulgaria | 60.8 km2 | 2021 | up 0.2% | rising |
| 25 | Australia and New Zealand | 35.8 km2 | 2021 | up 101.1% | rising |
| 26 | New Zealand | 35 km2 | 2021 | up 98.9% | rising |
| 27 | Slovakia | 32.8 km2 | 2021 | up 0.3% | flat |
| 28 | Slovenia | 30.2 km2 | 2021 | unchanged | flat |
| 29 | Ecuador | 27.3 km2 | 2021 | up 7.5% | rising |
| 30 | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | 18.9 km2 | 2021 | unchanged | volatile |
| 31 | Poland | 18.6 km2 | 2021 | down 2.1% | falling |
| 32 | Colombia | 8.5 km2 | 2021 | up 77.1% | rising |
| 33 | Romania | 7.4 km2 | 2021 | up 34.5% | rising |
| 34 | Japan | 6.8 km2 | 2021 | up 1.5% | flat |
| 35 | Myanmar | 5 km2 | 2021 | down 71.1% | falling |
| 36 | Montenegro | 3.2 km2 | 2021 | unchanged | volatile |
| 37 | Mexico | 1.7 km2 | 2021 | up 750.0% | volatile |
| 37 | Liechtenstein | 1.7 km2 | 2021 | up 30.8% | flat |
| 39 | Serbia | 1.4 km2 | 2021 | down 51.7% | volatile |
| 40 | Azerbaijan | 1.3 km2 | 2021 | up 62.5% | rising |
| 41 | South Africa | 1 km2 | 2021 | down 63.0% | falling |
| 42 | Australia | 0.8 km2 | 2021 | up 700.0% | volatile |
| 42 | Indonesia | 0.8 km2 | 2021 | up 300.0% | volatile |
| 44 | Faroe Islands | 0.5 km2 | 2021 | unchanged | flat |
| 45 | Albania | 0.4 km2 | 2021 | up 33.3% | volatile |
| 45 | Kenya | 0.4 km2 | 2021 | up 33.3% | rising |
| 45 | Uganda | 0.4 km2 | 2021 | — | volatile |
| 48 | Armenia | 0.3 km2 | 2021 | up 50.0% | rising |
| 48 | Andorra | 0.3 km2 | 2021 | unchanged | flat |
| 50 | Cameroon | 0.1 km2 | 2021 | unchanged | volatile |
| 51 | North Macedonia | 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 773,279 km2
- Bolivia (Plurinational State of) 16,234 km2
- Eastern Asia and South-eastern Asia 501,778 km2
- Least Developed Countries (LDCs) 8,612 km2
- Eastern Asia 501,772 km2
- United Republic of Tanzania 3.3 km2
- Latin America and the Caribbean 144,856 km2
- Iran (Islamic Republic of) 0.8 km2
- Northern America and Europe 82,748 km2
- Democratic People's Republic of Korea 0.4 km2
- Land Locked Developing Countries (LLDCs) 50,386 km2
- Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) 0.1 km2
- Northern America 45,259 km2
- Central Asia and Southern Asia 43,521 km2
- Europe 37,490 km2
- Central Asia 24,862 km2
- United States of America 20,058 km2
- Southern Asia 18,659 km2
- Western Asia and Northern Africa 334.5 km2
- Western Asia 334.5 km2
- Oceania 35.8 km2
- South-Eastern Asia 5.8 km2
- Sub-Saharan Africa 5.2 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.