Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly in Melanesia
Melanesia: Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly was 1.59 Percentage change in 2025. ◆ Volatile
Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly in Melanesia, 1950–2025
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Measured in Percentage change.
Analysis
Melanesia recorded 1.59 Percentage change for historical exposure to drought — land soil moisture anomaly in 2025.
That represents a change of up 62.8% on the previous year and up 216.6% over ten years.
Over the whole period, historical exposure to drought — land soil moisture anomaly in Melanesia peaked at 2.75 Percentage change in 2013 and was at its lowest, -5.46 Percentage change, in 1997.
Melanesia ranks 575th of 3112 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
The series is highly variable year to year, so single readings are best treated with caution.
Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly in Melanesia, year by year
| Year | Percentage change | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1950 | 2.49 Percentage change | — |
| 1951 | 0.1606 Percentage change | -93.6% |
| 1952 | 1.83 Percentage change | +1040.7% |
| 1953 | -1.18 Percentage change | -164.5% |
| 1954 | 1.09 Percentage change | -192.5% |
| 1955 | -0.1675 Percentage change | -115.3% |
| 1956 | 0.1392 Percentage change | -183.1% |
| 1957 | 0.9235 Percentage change | +563.4% |
| 1958 | -0.2281 Percentage change | -124.7% |
| 1959 | -0.2721 Percentage change | +19.3% |
| 1960 | 0.5224 Percentage change | -292.0% |
| 1961 | 1.98 Percentage change | +279.9% |
| 1962 | 2.33 Percentage change | +17.6% |
| 1963 | -2.24 Percentage change | -195.8% |
| 1964 | 0.4815 Percentage change | -121.5% |
| 1965 | -3.03 Percentage change | -729.3% |
| 1966 | -1.38 Percentage change | -54.4% |
| 1967 | 1.72 Percentage change | -224.6% |
| 1968 | -0.3469 Percentage change | -120.2% |
| 1969 | 1.12 Percentage change | -423.7% |
| 1970 | 1.67 Percentage change | +48.8% |
| 1971 | 2.46 Percentage change | +47.1% |
| 1972 | -3.02 Percentage change | -222.9% |
| 1973 | 0.4161 Percentage change | -113.8% |
| 1974 | -0.0671 Percentage change | -116.1% |
| 1975 | 2.02 Percentage change | -3107.1% |
| 1976 | 0.9401 Percentage change | -53.4% |
| 1977 | 0.9163 Percentage change | -2.5% |
| 1978 | 0.7156 Percentage change | -21.9% |
| 1979 | -1.02 Percentage change | -241.9% |
| 1980 | -1.47 Percentage change | +44.7% |
| 1981 | 1.01 Percentage change | -168.6% |
| 1982 | -2.13 Percentage change | -311.7% |
| 1983 | 0.8016 Percentage change | -137.6% |
| 1984 | 1.52 Percentage change | +90.2% |
| 1985 | 2.04 Percentage change | +33.5% |
| 1986 | -0.6531 Percentage change | -132.1% |
| 1987 | -3.69 Percentage change | +465.1% |
| 1988 | 0.8266 Percentage change | -122.4% |
| 1989 | 2.07 Percentage change | +150.7% |
| 1990 | -0.0579 Percentage change | -102.8% |
| 1991 | -1.24 Percentage change | +2049.7% |
| 1992 | -2 Percentage change | +60.5% |
| 1993 | -3.27 Percentage change | +63.9% |
| 1994 | -1.68 Percentage change | -48.6% |
| 1995 | 0.6468 Percentage change | -138.5% |
| 1996 | 1.74 Percentage change | +169.0% |
| 1997 | -5.46 Percentage change | -413.6% |
| 1998 | 0.6283 Percentage change | -111.5% |
| 1999 | 1.22 Percentage change | +93.8% |
| 2000 | 1.61 Percentage change | +31.9% |
| 2001 | 0.1827 Percentage change | -88.6% |
| 2002 | -0.6488 Percentage change | -455.0% |
| 2003 | -0.7966 Percentage change | +22.8% |
| 2004 | -0.1092 Percentage change | -86.3% |
| 2005 | 0.3553 Percentage change | -425.4% |
| 2006 | 0.8699 Percentage change | +144.8% |
| 2007 | 1.39 Percentage change | +60.0% |
| 2008 | 2.3 Percentage change | +64.9% |
| 2009 | 0.9997 Percentage change | -56.4% |
| 2010 | 1.54 Percentage change | +53.6% |
| 2011 | 2.72 Percentage change | +77.3% |
| 2012 | 1.19 Percentage change | -56.3% |
| 2013 | 2.75 Percentage change | +131.1% |
| 2014 | 0.6298 Percentage change | -77.1% |
| 2015 | -1.36 Percentage change | -316.4% |
| 2016 | 0.9702 Percentage change | -171.2% |
| 2017 | 2.55 Percentage change | +162.8% |
| 2018 | 0.7159 Percentage change | -71.9% |
| 2019 | 0.9118 Percentage change | +27.4% |
| 2020 | 2.23 Percentage change | +144.8% |
| 2021 | 2.22 Percentage change | -0.7% |
| 2022 | 0.6292 Percentage change | -71.6% |
| 2023 | 0.7946 Percentage change | +26.3% |
| 2024 | 0.9767 Percentage change | +22.9% |
| 2025 | 1.59 Percentage change | +62.8% |
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly in Melanesia changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | +3107.1% | -0.0671 Percentage change | 2.02 Percentage change |
| 1991 | -2049.7% | -0.0579 Percentage change | -1.24 Percentage change |
| 1952 | +1040.7% | 0.1606 Percentage change | 1.83 Percentage change |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | 0.4791 Percentage change | -1.18 Percentage change | 2.49 Percentage change | 10 |
| 1960s | 0.1172 Percentage change | -3.03 Percentage change | 2.33 Percentage change | 10 |
| 1970s | 0.5033 Percentage change | -3.02 Percentage change | 2.46 Percentage change | 10 |
| 1980s | 0.0322 Percentage change | -3.69 Percentage change | 2.07 Percentage change | 10 |
| 1990s | -0.9473 Percentage change | -5.46 Percentage change | 1.74 Percentage change | 10 |
| 2000s | 0.6146 Percentage change | -0.7966 Percentage change | 2.3 Percentage change | 10 |
| 2010s | 1.26 Percentage change | -1.36 Percentage change | 2.75 Percentage change | 10 |
| 2020s | 1.41 Percentage change | 0.6292 Percentage change | 2.23 Percentage change | 6 |
More environment data for Melanesia
- Standard Deviation, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Historical exposure to drought — Cropland soil moisture anomaly 2.37 Percentage change (2025)
- Standard Deviation 0.179 °C (2025)
- Temperature change 0.857 °C (2025)
- Nutrient phosphate P2O5 (total) — Use per area of cropland 3.85 kg/ha (2024)
- Land area — Area 52,995 1000 ha (2024)
- Nutrient phosphate P2O5 (total) — Use per capita 0.47 kg/cap (2024)
- Nutrient phosphate P2O5 (total) — Use per value of agricultural 1.3 g/Int$ (2024)
- Nutrient potash K2O (total) — Import quantity 21,133 t (2024)
- Value Added Deflator (Agriculture, forestry and fishery) — Value US$ 118.85 USD (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is historical exposure to drought — land soil moisture anomaly in Melanesia?
- Historical exposure to drought — land soil moisture anomaly in Melanesia was 1.59 Percentage change in 2025, according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
- What is the highest historical exposure to drought — land soil moisture anomaly recorded in Melanesia?
- The highest recorded value was 2.75 Percentage change in 2013.
- What is the lowest historical exposure to drought — land soil moisture anomaly recorded in Melanesia?
- The lowest recorded value was -5.46 Percentage change in 1997.
- How does Melanesia rank for historical exposure to drought — land soil moisture anomaly?
- Melanesia ranks 575th out of 3112 countries with data for 2025.
- Is historical exposure to drought — land soil moisture anomaly rising or falling in Melanesia?
- Over the last ten years it is up 216.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is volatile.
- Where does this Melanesia data come from?
- The figures come from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, published as part of Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
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About this data
The dataset provides annual anomalies in land and cropland soil moisture content of the top soil layer (0 to 7 cm) compared to the reference period 1981-2010. Exposure indicators to drought have been prepared by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Please see the working paper for a more complete description of the methods. The datasets span the period 1981-2024 and is the result of the use of a variety of geospatial data sources, including the ERA5-Land averaged monthly data of volumetric soil moisture and ESA CCI land cover data. Average anomalies have been calculated for both land and cropland exposure to drought. The dataset has a global coverage on a national level; on the sub-national TL2 level (i.e. large subnational regions) results are reported for all OECD countries as well as for Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and South Africa. A number of aggregates are included: Euro area, European Union, Advanced economies, Emerging market economies, G7, G20, OECD, OECD Europe, OECD Asia Oceania, OECD Americas and the LAC region. Data source(s): Copernicus Climate Change Initiative land cover data and Copernicus Climate Data Store monthly soil moisture data based on the ERA5-Land reanalysis dataset. Contact: ENV.Stat@oecd.org