Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly in OECD Asia
OECD Asia: Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly was -4.89 Percentage change in 2025. ◆ Volatile
Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly in OECD Asia, 1950–2025
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Measured in Percentage change.
Analysis
OECD Asia recorded -4.89 Percentage change for historical exposure to drought — land soil moisture anomaly in 2025. That is the lowest value across all 76 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 253.8% on the previous year and down 555.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, historical exposure to drought — land soil moisture anomaly in OECD Asia peaked at 4.26 Percentage change in 1972 and was at its lowest, -4.89 Percentage change, in 2025.
OECD Asia ranks 2210th of 3112 regions on this measure, in the middle of the range.
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 OECD Asia, year by year
| Year | Percentage change | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1950 | -1.05 Percentage change | — |
| 1951 | -3.93 Percentage change | +274.7% |
| 1952 | -1.01 Percentage change | -74.4% |
| 1953 | -1.04 Percentage change | +3.6% |
| 1954 | 1.91 Percentage change | -283.4% |
| 1955 | 1.03 Percentage change | -46.2% |
| 1956 | -0.0401 Percentage change | -103.9% |
| 1957 | 0.3749 Percentage change | -1034.2% |
| 1958 | 1.45 Percentage change | +287.1% |
| 1959 | 0.0497 Percentage change | -96.6% |
| 1960 | 2.22 Percentage change | +4367.5% |
| 1961 | -0.0574 Percentage change | -102.6% |
| 1962 | -2.69 Percentage change | +4589.4% |
| 1963 | 3.15 Percentage change | -217.0% |
| 1964 | 0.5832 Percentage change | -81.5% |
| 1965 | -0.8044 Percentage change | -237.9% |
| 1966 | 1.05 Percentage change | -230.6% |
| 1967 | 0.5818 Percentage change | -44.6% |
| 1968 | 0.9702 Percentage change | +66.7% |
| 1969 | 3.54 Percentage change | +264.7% |
| 1970 | 1.61 Percentage change | -54.5% |
| 1971 | 2.71 Percentage change | +68.2% |
| 1972 | 4.26 Percentage change | +57.3% |
| 1973 | 1.61 Percentage change | -62.3% |
| 1974 | 1.87 Percentage change | +16.8% |
| 1975 | 1.15 Percentage change | -38.7% |
| 1976 | 1.77 Percentage change | +54.3% |
| 1977 | -0.6874 Percentage change | -138.8% |
| 1978 | -0.1964 Percentage change | -71.4% |
| 1979 | 2 Percentage change | -1117.3% |
| 1980 | 4.1 Percentage change | +105.0% |
| 1981 | 1.5 Percentage change | -63.4% |
| 1982 | 1.37 Percentage change | -8.3% |
| 1983 | 1.17 Percentage change | -14.8% |
| 1984 | -2.97 Percentage change | -354.0% |
| 1985 | -1.26 Percentage change | -57.6% |
| 1986 | -2.28 Percentage change | +80.8% |
| 1987 | -0.2574 Percentage change | -88.7% |
| 1988 | -1.98 Percentage change | +668.9% |
| 1989 | 1.05 Percentage change | -153.1% |
| 1990 | -0.8284 Percentage change | -178.8% |
| 1991 | 2.39 Percentage change | -388.6% |
| 1992 | 0.5369 Percentage change | -77.5% |
| 1993 | 2.94 Percentage change | +447.1% |
| 1994 | -3.98 Percentage change | -235.4% |
| 1995 | -1.19 Percentage change | -70.1% |
| 1996 | -0.0349 Percentage change | -97.1% |
| 1997 | -2.09 Percentage change | +5878.8% |
| 1998 | 2.39 Percentage change | -214.3% |
| 1999 | -0.2181 Percentage change | -109.1% |
| 2000 | 0.4681 Percentage change | -314.6% |
| 2001 | 1.77 Percentage change | +278.2% |
| 2002 | 0.6783 Percentage change | -61.7% |
| 2003 | 2.49 Percentage change | +266.5% |
| 2004 | 0.3726 Percentage change | -85.0% |
| 2005 | -2.79 Percentage change | -849.7% |
| 2006 | -0.6693 Percentage change | -76.0% |
| 2007 | -0.6845 Percentage change | +2.3% |
| 2008 | 0.0185 Percentage change | -102.7% |
| 2009 | 0.4567 Percentage change | +2370.6% |
| 2010 | 1.63 Percentage change | +257.3% |
| 2011 | 2.08 Percentage change | +27.4% |
| 2012 | -1.55 Percentage change | -174.6% |
| 2013 | 0.2569 Percentage change | -116.6% |
| 2014 | -0.3428 Percentage change | -233.4% |
| 2015 | -0.7463 Percentage change | +117.7% |
| 2016 | 1.43 Percentage change | -291.0% |
| 2017 | -1.34 Percentage change | -194.3% |
| 2018 | 0.0174 Percentage change | -101.3% |
| 2019 | 0.1149 Percentage change | +560.9% |
| 2020 | 0.2606 Percentage change | +126.7% |
| 2021 | 0.5032 Percentage change | +93.1% |
| 2022 | -1.52 Percentage change | -401.7% |
| 2023 | -1.29 Percentage change | -15.0% |
| 2024 | 3.18 Percentage change | -346.7% |
| 2025 | -4.89 Percentage change | -253.8% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | -0.2253 Percentage change | -3.93 Percentage change | 1.91 Percentage change | 10 |
| 1960s | 0.8538 Percentage change | -2.69 Percentage change | 3.54 Percentage change | 10 |
| 1970s | 1.61 Percentage change | -0.6874 Percentage change | 4.26 Percentage change | 10 |
| 1980s | 0.0443 Percentage change | -2.97 Percentage change | 4.1 Percentage change | 10 |
| 1990s | -0.0082 Percentage change | -3.98 Percentage change | 2.94 Percentage change | 10 |
| 2000s | 0.2104 Percentage change | -2.79 Percentage change | 2.49 Percentage change | 10 |
| 2010s | 0.1541 Percentage change | -1.55 Percentage change | 2.08 Percentage change | 10 |
| 2020s | -0.6261 Percentage change | -4.89 Percentage change | 3.18 Percentage change | 6 |
More environment data for OECD Asia
- Historical exposure to drought — Cropland soil moisture anomaly -5.22 Percentage change (2025)
- Exposure to drought — Cropland soil moisture anomaly -2.5 Percentage change (2024)
- Exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly 0.8301 Percentage change (2024)
- River flooding exposure — Cropland share exposed to river flooding 3.38 Percentage of agricultural land area (2022)
- Land cover and land cover change — Grassland 950.76 Square kilometres (2022)
- Land cover and land cover change — Loss of cropland 15,909 Square kilometres (2022)
- Land cover and land cover change — Gain of artificial surfaces 14,061 Square kilometres (2022)
Frequently asked questions
- What is historical exposure to drought — land soil moisture anomaly in OECD Asia?
- Historical exposure to drought — land soil moisture anomaly in OECD Asia was -4.89 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 OECD Asia?
- The highest recorded value was 4.26 Percentage change in 1972.
- What is the lowest historical exposure to drought — land soil moisture anomaly recorded in OECD Asia?
- The lowest recorded value was -4.89 Percentage change in 2025.
- How does OECD Asia rank for historical exposure to drought — land soil moisture anomaly?
- OECD Asia ranks 2210th out of 3112 regions with data for 2025.
- Is historical exposure to drought — land soil moisture anomaly rising or falling in OECD Asia?
- Over the last ten years it is down 555.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is volatile.
- Where does this OECD Asia 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.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 76 observations, free to reuse under OECD Terms and Conditions (attribution required).
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