15.4.2a Mountain green cover area: Total; 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: Total; Land Cover: Permanent snow and glaciers — Value is currently reported for 36 countries. The highest value is 59,482 km2 in China, mainland; the lowest is 0 km2 in Armenia.
The median across all reporting countries is 397.3 km2, and the mean is 3,919 km2.
Over the past decade 7 countries rose and 26 fell. The largest increase was in Japan (up 137.5%), and the largest decrease in Armenia (down 100.0%).
15.4.2a Mountain green cover area: Total; Land Cover: Permanent snow: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China, mainland | 59,482 km2 | 2021 | down 4.1% | falling |
| 2 | Chile | 25,614 km2 | 2021 | down 6.0% | falling |
| 3 | Tajikistan | 9,092 km2 | 2021 | down 6.3% | falling |
| 4 | India | 7,423 km2 | 2021 | down 15.6% | falling |
| 5 | Iceland | 6,812 km2 | 2021 | down 4.4% | falling |
| 6 | Kyrgyzstan | 6,727 km2 | 2021 | down 4.6% | falling |
| 6 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 0.1 km2 | 2021 | unchanged | falling |
| 7 | Nepal | 5,578 km2 | 2021 | down 8.2% | falling |
| 8 | Russian Federation | 3,870 km2 | 2021 | up 7.1% | falling |
| 9 | Afghanistan | 3,062 km2 | 2021 | down 7.1% | falling |
| 10 | Pakistan | 2,915 km2 | 2021 | down 7.4% | falling |
| 11 | New Zealand | 1,698 km2 | 2021 | down 7.7% | falling |
| 11 | Australia and New Zealand | 1,698 km2 | 2021 | down 7.7% | falling |
| 13 | Kazakhstan | 1,295 km2 | 2021 | up 3.3% | flat |
| 14 | Peru | 1,250 km2 | 2021 | down 9.1% | falling |
| 15 | Bhutan | 1,073 km2 | 2021 | down 0.9% | flat |
| 16 | Switzerland | 992.1 km2 | 2021 | down 10.1% | falling |
| 17 | Mongolia | 445.5 km2 | 2021 | down 0.9% | falling |
| 18 | Georgia | 407.5 km2 | 2021 | down 16.2% | falling |
| 19 | Italy | 387.1 km2 | 2021 | down 1.2% | falling |
| 20 | Austria | 322.7 km2 | 2021 | down 11.9% | falling |
| 21 | Sweden | 268.2 km2 | 2021 | down 0.6% | flat |
| 22 | France | 256.2 km2 | 2021 | up 0.0% | falling |
| 23 | Myanmar | 175.3 km2 | 2021 | up 55.8% | rising |
| 24 | Uzbekistan | 94.2 km2 | 2021 | up 2.8% | flat |
| 25 | Ecuador | 51.8 km2 | 2021 | down 1.5% | flat |
| 26 | Colombia | 45.7 km2 | 2021 | down 17.7% | falling |
| 27 | Albania | 22.9 km2 | 2021 | — | volatile |
| 28 | Japan | 3.8 km2 | 2021 | up 137.5% | rising |
| 29 | Spain | 2.4 km2 | 2021 | up 4.3% | falling |
| 30 | Azerbaijan | 1.7 km2 | 2021 | down 15.0% | falling |
| 31 | Mexico | 1.4 km2 | 2021 | down 22.2% | falling |
| 32 | Indonesia | 0.7 km2 | 2021 | down 41.7% | falling |
| 33 | Uganda | 0.4 km2 | 2021 | down 50.0% | volatile |
| 34 | Slovenia | 0.3 km2 | 2021 | unchanged | falling |
| 35 | Armenia | 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 281,609 km2
- Least Developed Countries (LDCs) 8,818 km2
- Northern America and Europe 150,472 km2
- Bolivia (Plurinational State of) 373.2 km2
- Northern America 134,718 km2
- Iran (Islamic Republic of) 2.7 km2
- Eastern Asia and South-eastern Asia 60,107 km2
- United Republic of Tanzania 1.6 km2
- Eastern Asia 59,931 km2
- Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) 0.2 km2
- United States of America 59,563 km2
- Central Asia and Southern Asia 37,263 km2
- Latin America and the Caribbean 31,651 km2
- Land Locked Developing Countries (LLDCs) 27,743 km2
- Southern Asia 20,055 km2
- Central Asia 17,208 km2
- Europe 15,754 km2
- Oceania 1,698 km2
- Western Asia and Northern Africa 415.5 km2
- Western Asia 415.5 km2
- South-Eastern Asia 175.9 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.