15.4.2a Mountain green cover area: Nival; 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: Nival; Land Cover: Terrestrial barren land — Value is currently reported for 31 countries. The highest value is 24,286 km2 in Russian Federation; the lowest is 0 km2 in Mongolia.
The median across all reporting countries is 685.4 km2, and the mean is 2,951 km2.
Over the past decade 21 countries rose and 7 fell. The largest increase was in Colombia (up 166.7%), and the largest decrease in Japan (down 100.0%).
15.4.2a Mountain green cover area: Nival; Land Cover: Terrestrial: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Russian Federation | 24,286 km2 | 2021 | down 0.9% | flat |
| 2 | China, mainland | 14,835 km2 | 2021 | up 3.1% | flat |
| 3 | Tajikistan | 13,189 km2 | 2021 | up 2.4% | rising |
| 4 | Afghanistan | 9,595 km2 | 2021 | up 1.1% | flat |
| 5 | Iceland | 9,349 km2 | 2021 | up 2.7% | rising |
| 6 | Chile | 3,982 km2 | 2021 | up 3.1% | rising |
| 7 | Switzerland | 2,646 km2 | 2021 | up 0.6% | flat |
| 8 | Pakistan | 1,933 km2 | 2021 | up 1.1% | flat |
| 9 | Kyrgyzstan | 1,776 km2 | 2021 | up 2.8% | rising |
| 10 | Italy | 1,735 km2 | 2021 | down 0.1% | flat |
| 11 | India | 1,601 km2 | 2021 | up 20.2% | rising |
| 12 | Nepal | 1,546 km2 | 2021 | up 9.8% | rising |
| 13 | France | 1,358 km2 | 2021 | down 0.0% | rising |
| 14 | Austria | 1,267 km2 | 2021 | up 3.1% | rising |
| 15 | Peru | 1,186 km2 | 2021 | up 2.7% | flat |
| 16 | Sweden | 685.4 km2 | 2021 | up 0.1% | flat |
| 17 | Uzbekistan | 152.3 km2 | 2021 | down 1.5% | flat |
| 18 | Spain | 119.5 km2 | 2021 | up 1.6% | flat |
| 19 | Kazakhstan | 107.6 km2 | 2021 | down 5.7% | falling |
| 20 | Georgia | 38.4 km2 | 2021 | up 118.2% | rising |
| 21 | Slovakia | 24.4 km2 | 2021 | up 0.4% | flat |
| 22 | Australia and New Zealand | 20.1 km2 | 2021 | up 73.3% | rising |
| 22 | New Zealand | 20.1 km2 | 2021 | up 73.3% | rising |
| 24 | Ecuador | 6.9 km2 | 2021 | unchanged | falling |
| 25 | Colombia | 5.6 km2 | 2021 | up 166.7% | rising |
| 26 | Bhutan | 4.7 km2 | 2021 | up 11.9% | flat |
| 27 | Finland | 4.5 km2 | 2021 | up 50.0% | volatile |
| 28 | Azerbaijan | 0.2 km2 | 2021 | unchanged | flat |
| 28 | Poland | 0.2 km2 | 2021 | unchanged | flat |
| 30 | Japan | 0 km2 | 2021 | down 100.0% | volatile |
| 30 | Mongolia | 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 152,235 km2
- Least Developed Countries (LDCs) 11,143 km2
- Northern America and Europe 92,236 km2
- Bolivia (Plurinational State of) 107.4 km2
- Europe 49,512 km2
- United Republic of Tanzania 2.1 km2
- Northern America 42,724 km2
- Central Asia and Southern Asia 29,904 km2
- Land Locked Developing Countries (LLDCs) 26,478 km2
- Central Asia 15,224 km2
- Latin America and the Caribbean 15,188 km2
- Eastern Asia 14,835 km2
- Eastern Asia and South-eastern Asia 14,835 km2
- Southern Asia 14,680 km2
- United States of America 5,876 km2
- Western Asia 49.3 km2
- Western Asia and Northern Africa 49.3 km2
- Oceania 20.1 km2
- Sub-Saharan Africa 2.1 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.