Inland water bodies — Area from MODIS in China

China: Inland water bodies — Area from MODIS was 8,896 1000 ha in 2024. ▲ Rising

Latest (2024)
8,896 1000 ha
Change on year
up 0.9%
World rank
6th
of 223 countries
All-time high
8,896 1000 ha
in 2024
All-time low
8,240 1000 ha
in 2001
Years of data
24
2001–2024

Inland water bodies — Area from MODIS in China, 2001–2024

02.0k4.0k6.0k8.0k2001201220242001: 8.2k 1000 ha2002: 8.3k 1000 ha2003: 8.3k 1000 ha2004: 8.3k 1000 ha2005: 8.4k 1000 ha2006: 8.4k 1000 ha2007: 8.4k 1000 ha2008: 8.4k 1000 ha2009: 8.4k 1000 ha2010: 8.4k 1000 ha2011: 8.5k 1000 ha2012: 8.5k 1000 ha2013: 8.5k 1000 ha2014: 8.5k 1000 ha2015: 8.5k 1000 ha2016: 8.6k 1000 ha2017: 8.7k 1000 ha2018: 8.7k 1000 ha2019: 8.8k 1000 ha2020: 8.7k 1000 ha2021: 8.8k 1000 ha2022: 8.8k 1000 ha2023: 8.8k 1000 ha2024: 8.9k 1000 ha

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in 1000 ha.

Analysis

In 2024, inland water bodies — area from modis in China stood at 8,896 1000 ha. That is the highest value across all 24 years on record.

The figure is up 0.9% on the previous year and up 4.1% over ten years.

Over the whole period, inland water bodies — area from modis in China peaked at 8,896 1000 ha in 2024 and was at its lowest, 8,240 1000 ha, in 2001.

China ranks 6th of 223 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 24 years of available data.

Inland water bodies — Area from MODIS in China, year by year

Annual values for Inland water bodies — Area from MODIS in China, 2001 to 2024.
Year 1000 ha Change
2001 8,240 1000 ha —
2002 8,317 1000 ha +0.9%
2003 8,340 1000 ha +0.3%
2004 8,337 1000 ha -0.0%
2005 8,364 1000 ha +0.3%
2006 8,369 1000 ha +0.1%
2007 8,374 1000 ha +0.1%
2008 8,393 1000 ha +0.2%
2009 8,414 1000 ha +0.2%
2010 8,428 1000 ha +0.2%
2011 8,472 1000 ha +0.5%
2012 8,485 1000 ha +0.2%
2013 8,549 1000 ha +0.7%
2014 8,542 1000 ha -0.1%
2015 8,549 1000 ha +0.1%
2016 8,578 1000 ha +0.3%
2017 8,653 1000 ha +0.9%
2018 8,695 1000 ha +0.5%
2019 8,751 1000 ha +0.6%
2020 8,720 1000 ha -0.4%
2021 8,776 1000 ha +0.6%
2022 8,764 1000 ha -0.1%
2023 8,820 1000 ha +0.6%
2024 8,896 1000 ha +0.9%

China compared with similar countries

  • China's 8,896 1000 ha is above the median for upper middle income countries, which is 114.84 1000 ha, 77.5× the median. (52 countries reporting)
  • China's 8,896 1000 ha is above the median for East Asia & Pacific, which is 181.97 1000 ha, 48.9× the median. (27 countries reporting)

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
2000s 8,350 1000 ha 8,240 1000 ha 8,414 1000 ha 9
2010s 8,570 1000 ha 8,428 1000 ha 8,751 1000 ha 10
2020s 8,795 1000 ha 8,720 1000 ha 8,896 1000 ha 5

Countries ranked near China

  1. 3 Antarctica 37,923 1000 ha compare
  2. 3 United Republic of Tanzania 5,831 1000 ha compare
  3. 4 Kazakhstan 17,833 1000 ha compare
  4. 5 Brazil 9,006 1000 ha compare
  5. 5 Democratic Republic of the Congo 2,925 1000 ha compare
  6. 6 Melanesia 1,440 1000 ha compare
  7. 7 Turkmenistan 8,865 1000 ha compare
  8. 7 Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) 1,077 1000 ha compare
  9. 8 China, mainland 8,813 1000 ha compare
  10. 8 Türkiye 964.19 1000 ha compare
  11. 9 Azerbaijan 7,942 1000 ha compare
  12. 9 Bolivia (Plurinational State of) 696.63 1000 ha compare

See the full ranking of 269 places →

More environment data for China

All data for China →

Frequently asked questions

What is inland water bodies — area from modis in China?
Inland water bodies — area from modis in China was 8,896 1000 ha in 2024, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
What is the highest inland water bodies — area from modis recorded in China?
The highest recorded value was 8,896 1000 ha in 2024.
What is the lowest inland water bodies — area from modis recorded in China?
The lowest recorded value was 8,240 1000 ha in 2001.
How does China rank for inland water bodies — area from modis?
China ranks 6th out of 223 countries with data for 2024.
Is inland water bodies — area from modis rising or falling in China?
Over the last ten years it is up 4.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this China data come from?
The figures come from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, published as part of Inland water bodies — Area from MODIS. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

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Inland water bodies — Area from MODIS in China. Statizoid, drawing on Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Retrieved 27 September 2026, from https://environment.statizoid.com/stat/inland-water-bodies-area-from-modis/china/

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About this data

Indicator
Inland water bodies — Area from MODIS
Unit
1000 ha
Source
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Licence
CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO)
Coverage
269 places, 6,390 data points, 2001–2024
Last refreshed

The FAOSTAT domain on Land Cover data under the Agri-Environmental Indicators section contains land cover information organized by the land cover classes of the international standard system for Environmental and Economic Accounting Central Framework (SEEA CF). The land cover information is compiled from publicly available Global Land Cover (GLC) maps: a) MODIS land cover types based on the Land Cover Classification System, LCCS; b) The European Spatial Agency (ESA) Climate Change Initiative (CCI) annual land cover maps produced by the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL)-Geomatics and now under the European Copernicus Program; c) The annual land cover maps which were produced under the European Copernicus Global Land Service (CGLS) (CGLS land cover, containing discrete land cover categorization), with spatial resolution 100m; and d) the WorldCover maps of the European Space Agency, produced at 10m resolution.