15.4.2a Mountain Green Cover Index: Alpine; 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 Index: Alpine; Land Cover: Permanent snow and glaciers — Value is currently reported for 35 countries. The highest value is 23.7 % in Bhutan; the lowest is 0.02 % in Armenia.
The median across all reporting countries is 0.75 %, and the mean is 4.92 %.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 1,185.
Over the past decade 5 countries rose and 26 fell. The largest increase was in Japan (up 141.7%), and the largest decrease in Armenia (down 60.0%).
15.4.2a Mountain Green Cover Index: Alpine; Land Cover: Permanent: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bhutan | 23.7 % | 2021 | down 1.4% | flat |
| 2 | India | 22.9 % | 2021 | down 15.8% | falling |
| 3 | Pakistan | 17.27 % | 2021 | down 8.1% | falling |
| 4 | Myanmar | 16.66 % | 2021 | up 20.3% | falling |
| 4 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 0.07 % | 2021 | down 56.2% | falling |
| 5 | Nepal | 16.15 % | 2021 | down 8.3% | falling |
| 6 | Kyrgyzstan | 13.06 % | 2021 | down 4.9% | falling |
| 7 | Chile | 11.41 % | 2021 | down 6.2% | falling |
| 8 | Kazakhstan | 9.69 % | 2021 | up 3.4% | flat |
| 9 | Georgia | 6.87 % | 2021 | down 18.0% | falling |
| 10 | Afghanistan | 5.61 % | 2021 | down 8.2% | falling |
| 11 | New Zealand | 5.53 % | 2021 | down 7.2% | falling |
| 12 | Tajikistan | 4.3 % | 2021 | down 11.3% | falling |
| 13 | Australia and New Zealand | 4.24 % | 2021 | down 7.2% | falling |
| 14 | China, mainland | 2.47 % | 2021 | down 5.4% | falling |
| 15 | Mongolia | 2.21 % | 2021 | down 1.8% | falling |
| 16 | Iceland | 1.95 % | 2021 | down 14.1% | falling |
| 17 | Uzbekistan | 1.23 % | 2021 | up 2.5% | flat |
| 18 | Italy | 0.75 % | 2021 | unchanged | flat |
| 19 | Switzerland | 0.7 % | 2021 | down 23.1% | falling |
| 20 | Mexico | 0.63 % | 2021 | down 21.2% | falling |
| 21 | Ecuador | 0.58 % | 2021 | down 1.7% | flat |
| 21 | Slovenia | 0.58 % | 2021 | unchanged | flat |
| 23 | Austria | 0.52 % | 2021 | down 13.3% | falling |
| 24 | Azerbaijan | 0.48 % | 2021 | down 25.0% | falling |
| 25 | Sweden | 0.42 % | 2021 | down 2.3% | flat |
| 26 | Peru | 0.41 % | 2021 | down 10.9% | falling |
| 27 | Colombia | 0.39 % | 2021 | down 17.0% | falling |
| 28 | Uganda | 0.37 % | 2021 | down 49.3% | volatile |
| 29 | Japan | 0.29 % | 2021 | up 141.7% | rising |
| 30 | France | 0.27 % | 2021 | unchanged | falling |
| 31 | Indonesia | 0.22 % | 2021 | down 46.3% | falling |
| 32 | Russian Federation | 0.09 % | 2021 | up 12.5% | falling |
| 33 | Spain | 0.03 % | 2021 | unchanged | rising |
| 34 | Armenia | 0.02 % | 2021 | down 60.0% | volatile |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- Southern Asia 15.69 %
- Least Developed Countries (LDCs) 10.65 %
- Central Asia and Southern Asia 12.17 %
- Bolivia (Plurinational State of) 0.5 %
- South-Eastern Asia 9.97 %
- United Republic of Tanzania 0.24 %
- United States of America 9.51 %
- Central Asia 9 %
- Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) 0.03 %
- Land Locked Developing Countries (LLDCs) 6.66 %
- Northern America 6.58 %
- Western Asia 5.57 %
- Western Asia and Northern Africa 5.54 %
- Latin America and the Caribbean 4.36 %
- Oceania 4.24 %
- World 2.66 %
- Eastern Asia and South-eastern Asia 2.47 %
- Eastern Asia 2.46 %
- Northern America and Europe 2.03 %
- Europe 0.13 %
- Sub-Saharan Africa 0.08 %
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.