15.4.2a Mountain green cover area: Nival; Land Cover: Shrub-covered areas — 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: Shrub-covered areas — Value is currently reported for 24 countries. The highest value is 4,040 km2 in Iceland; the lowest is 0 km2 in Kazakhstan.
The median across all reporting countries is 0.6 km2, and the mean is 201.37 km2.
Over the past decade 4 countries rose and 12 fell. The largest increase was in New Zealand (up 81.0%), and the largest decrease in Uzbekistan (down 100.0%).
15.4.2a Mountain green cover area: Nival; Land Cover: Shrub-covered: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iceland | 4,040 km2 | 2021 | down 0.8% | flat |
| 2 | Switzerland | 325.6 km2 | 2021 | up 10.9% | rising |
| 3 | Russian Federation | 147.2 km2 | 2021 | down 4.0% | flat |
| 4 | Sweden | 104.2 km2 | 2021 | unchanged | flat |
| 5 | Italy | 97.6 km2 | 2021 | up 1.8% | flat |
| 6 | Austria | 66.1 km2 | 2021 | down 4.9% | falling |
| 7 | France | 25.9 km2 | 2021 | unchanged | rising |
| 8 | Spain | 11.2 km2 | 2021 | unchanged | rising |
| 9 | Slovakia | 5.6 km2 | 2021 | unchanged | flat |
| 10 | New Zealand | 3.8 km2 | 2021 | up 81.0% | rising |
| 10 | Australia and New Zealand | 3.8 km2 | 2021 | up 81.0% | rising |
| 12 | Chile | 1 km2 | 2021 | down 9.1% | flat |
| 13 | Ecuador | 0.2 km2 | 2021 | unchanged | flat |
| 13 | Japan | 0.2 km2 | 2021 | unchanged | flat |
| 13 | Colombia | 0.2 km2 | 2021 | unchanged | flat |
| 13 | China, mainland | 0.2 km2 | 2021 | down 50.0% | falling |
| 17 | Tajikistan | 0.1 km2 | 2021 | down 80.0% | flat |
| 17 | Kyrgyzstan | 0.1 km2 | 2021 | down 50.0% | rising |
| 17 | Georgia | 0.1 km2 | 2021 | down 50.0% | falling |
| 17 | Afghanistan | 0.1 km2 | 2021 | unchanged | flat |
| 21 | Uzbekistan | 0 km2 | 2021 | down 100.0% | falling |
| 21 | Peru | 0 km2 | 2021 | down 100.0% | volatile |
| 21 | Nepal | 0 km2 | 2021 | down 100.0% | volatile |
| 21 | Kazakhstan | 0 km2 | 2021 | down 100.0% | volatile |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- World 7,698 km2
- Least Developed Countries (LDCs) 0.1 km2
- Northern America and Europe 7,691 km2
- Europe 7,619 km2
- Northern America 72.6 km2
- United States of America 61.9 km2
- Oceania 3.8 km2
- Latin America and the Caribbean 1.7 km2
- Land Locked Developing Countries (LLDCs) 0.4 km2
- Eastern Asia 0.4 km2
- Eastern Asia and South-eastern Asia 0.4 km2
- Central Asia 0.3 km2
- Central Asia and Southern Asia 0.3 km2
- Western Asia 0.1 km2
- Southern Asia 0.1 km2
- Western Asia and Northern Africa 0.1 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.