15.4.2a Mountain green cover area: Montane; 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: Montane; Land Cover: Permanent snow and glaciers — Value is currently reported for 29 countries. The highest value is 4,364 km2 in China, mainland; the lowest is 0.1 km2 in Azerbaijan.
The median across all reporting countries is 51.1 km2, and the mean is 325.94 km2.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 43,643.
Over the past decade 6 countries rose and 19 fell. The largest increase was in Japan (up 125.0%), and the largest decrease in Azerbaijan (down 50.0%).
15.4.2a Mountain green cover area: Montane; Land Cover: Permanent: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China, mainland | 4,364 km2 | 2021 | up 0.0% | falling |
| 2 | Chile | 1,309 km2 | 2021 | down 20.4% | falling |
| 3 | India | 784.4 km2 | 2021 | down 28.7% | falling |
| 4 | Australia and New Zealand | 624.3 km2 | 2021 | down 12.2% | falling |
| 4 | New Zealand | 624.3 km2 | 2021 | down 12.2% | falling |
| 6 | Pakistan | 387.8 km2 | 2021 | down 14.6% | falling |
| 7 | Kyrgyzstan | 294.5 km2 | 2021 | down 13.0% | falling |
| 8 | Nepal | 201.1 km2 | 2021 | down 24.9% | falling |
| 9 | Russian Federation | 183.2 km2 | 2021 | down 2.6% | falling |
| 10 | Bhutan | 124.4 km2 | 2021 | up 3.2% | falling |
| 11 | Tajikistan | 117.3 km2 | 2021 | down 11.9% | falling |
| 12 | Myanmar | 103.1 km2 | 2021 | up 96.0% | rising |
| 13 | Mongolia | 75.7 km2 | 2021 | up 2.6% | falling |
| 14 | Georgia | 53.9 km2 | 2021 | down 20.4% | falling |
| 15 | Kazakhstan | 51.1 km2 | 2021 | up 12.1% | falling |
| 16 | Afghanistan | 44.1 km2 | 2021 | down 17.3% | falling |
| 17 | Peru | 35.9 km2 | 2021 | down 6.3% | falling |
| 18 | Albania | 22.9 km2 | 2021 | — | volatile |
| 19 | Italy | 13.5 km2 | 2021 | down 0.7% | rising |
| 20 | Switzerland | 11.7 km2 | 2021 | down 18.2% | falling |
| 21 | France | 7.2 km2 | 2021 | unchanged | falling |
| 22 | Austria | 6.4 km2 | 2021 | down 13.5% | falling |
| 23 | Iceland | 5.5 km2 | 2021 | down 40.2% | falling |
| 24 | Uzbekistan | 2.8 km2 | 2021 | down 3.4% | falling |
| 25 | Colombia | 2 km2 | 2021 | down 23.1% | falling |
| 26 | Japan | 0.9 km2 | 2021 | up 125.0% | rising |
| 27 | Sweden | 0.8 km2 | 2021 | unchanged | flat |
| 28 | Spain | 0.4 km2 | 2021 | unchanged | falling |
| 29 | Azerbaijan | 0.1 km2 | 2021 | down 50.0% | falling |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- World 14,355 km2
- Least Developed Countries (LDCs) 348.3 km2
- Northern America and Europe 5,416 km2
- Iran (Islamic Republic of) 2.7 km2
- Northern America 5,125 km2
- Bolivia (Plurinational State of) 0.5 km2
- Eastern Asia and South-eastern Asia 4,544 km2
- Eastern Asia 4,441 km2
- United States of America 2,547 km2
- Central Asia and Southern Asia 2,010 km2
- Latin America and the Caribbean 1,707 km2
- Southern Asia 1,544 km2
- Land Locked Developing Countries (LLDCs) 911.5 km2
- Oceania 624.3 km2
- Central Asia 465.7 km2
- Europe 290.5 km2
- South-Eastern Asia 103.1 km2
- Western Asia and Northern Africa 54.5 km2
- Western Asia 54.5 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.