15.4.2a Mountain green cover area: Nival; 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: Nival; Land Cover: Permanent snow and glaciers — Value is currently reported for 30 countries. The highest value is 18,256 km2 in China, mainland; the lowest is 0.1 km2 in Japan.
The median across all reporting countries is 349.9 km2, and the mean is 1,888 km2.
Over the past decade 6 countries rose and 22 fell. The largest increase was in Azerbaijan (up 100.0%), and the largest decrease in United Republic of Tanzania (down 35.7%).
15.4.2a Mountain green cover area: Nival; Land Cover: Permanent snow: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China, mainland | 18,256 km2 | 2021 | down 2.7% | falling |
| 2 | Tajikistan | 7,853 km2 | 2021 | down 5.4% | falling |
| 2 | Bolivia (Plurinational State of) | 129.6 km2 | 2021 | down 2.3% | falling |
| 3 | Chile | 6,678 km2 | 2021 | down 2.3% | flat |
| 3 | United Republic of Tanzania | 0.9 km2 | 2021 | down 35.7% | falling |
| 4 | Iceland | 6,418 km2 | 2021 | down 3.7% | falling |
| 5 | India | 2,532 km2 | 2021 | down 10.2% | falling |
| 6 | Nepal | 2,442 km2 | 2021 | down 6.3% | falling |
| 7 | Kyrgyzstan | 2,160 km2 | 2021 | down 2.8% | falling |
| 8 | Russian Federation | 2,061 km2 | 2021 | up 9.3% | falling |
| 9 | Afghanistan | 2,033 km2 | 2021 | down 6.4% | falling |
| 10 | Pakistan | 1,559 km2 | 2021 | down 5.0% | falling |
| 11 | Switzerland | 955.1 km2 | 2021 | down 9.5% | falling |
| 12 | New Zealand | 635.4 km2 | 2021 | down 3.1% | falling |
| 12 | Australia and New Zealand | 635.4 km2 | 2021 | down 3.1% | falling |
| 14 | Peru | 577.4 km2 | 2021 | down 5.8% | falling |
| 15 | Kazakhstan | 356.4 km2 | 2021 | up 1.7% | flat |
| 16 | Italy | 343.4 km2 | 2021 | down 1.4% | falling |
| 17 | Austria | 290.5 km2 | 2021 | down 11.6% | falling |
| 18 | France | 238.5 km2 | 2021 | up 0.0% | falling |
| 19 | Sweden | 170.5 km2 | 2021 | down 0.4% | flat |
| 20 | Georgia | 160.2 km2 | 2021 | down 12.2% | falling |
| 21 | Uzbekistan | 65 km2 | 2021 | up 3.2% | rising |
| 22 | Bhutan | 33.8 km2 | 2021 | down 1.2% | flat |
| 23 | Colombia | 21.7 km2 | 2021 | down 18.1% | falling |
| 24 | Ecuador | 10.5 km2 | 2021 | down 1.9% | flat |
| 25 | Mongolia | 8.1 km2 | 2021 | up 1.2% | flat |
| 26 | Spain | 1.7 km2 | 2021 | unchanged | falling |
| 27 | Azerbaijan | 0.2 km2 | 2021 | up 100.0% | rising |
| 28 | Japan | 0.1 km2 | 2021 | unchanged | flat |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- World 133,414 km2
- Least Developed Countries (LDCs) 4,475 km2
- Northern America and Europe 86,364 km2
- Northern America 73,568 km2
- United States of America 23,559 km2
- Central Asia and Southern Asia 19,034 km2
- Eastern Asia and South-eastern Asia 18,264 km2
- Eastern Asia 18,264 km2
- Land Locked Developing Countries (LLDCs) 15,081 km2
- Europe 12,796 km2
- Central Asia 10,435 km2
- Latin America and the Caribbean 8,949 km2
- Southern Asia 8,600 km2
- Oceania 635.4 km2
- Western Asia 166.4 km2
- Western Asia and Northern Africa 166.4 km2
- Sub-Saharan Africa 0.9 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.