Permanent snow and glaciers — Area from MODIS by country
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...
What the numbers show
Permanent snow and glaciers — Area from MODIS is currently reported for 79 countries. The highest value is 1.18 million 1000 ha in Antarctica; the lowest is 0 1000 ha in United States Minor Outlying Islands.
The median across all reporting countries is 0.6 1000 ha, and the mean is 17,884 1000 ha.
Over the past decade 15 countries rose and 36 fell. The largest increase was in Iran (Islamic Republic of) (up 3,081.8%), and the largest decrease in Micronesia (down 100.0%).
Permanent snow and glaciers — Area from MODIS: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Antarctica | 1.18 million 1000 ha | 2024 | up 0.0% | flat |
| 2 | Greenland | 186,005 1000 ha | 2024 | up 0.1% | falling |
| 2 | Bolivia (Plurinational State of) | 15.28 1000 ha | 2024 | down 41.9% | rising |
| 3 | Canada | 24,922 1000 ha | 2024 | down 3.5% | falling |
| 3 | Türkiye | 9.73 1000 ha | 2024 | up 52.0% | rising |
| 4 | Russian Federation | 8,881 1000 ha | 2024 | down 0.9% | falling |
| 4 | Iran (Islamic Republic of) | 3.5 1000 ha | 2024 | up 3,081.8% | volatile |
| 5 | Norway | 3,744 1000 ha | 2024 | down 4.1% | flat |
| 5 | United Republic of Tanzania | 0.11 1000 ha | 2024 | up 450.0% | volatile |
| 6 | China | 2,848 1000 ha | 2024 | down 9.2% | flat |
| 6 | China, mainland | 2,848 1000 ha | 2024 | down 9.2% | flat |
| 6 | Micronesia | 0 1000 ha | 2024 | down 100.0% | volatile |
| 6 | Melanesia | 0 1000 ha | 2024 | — | volatile |
| 6 | Polynesia | 0 1000 ha | 2024 | — | volatile |
| 6 | Democratic People's Republic of Korea | 0 1000 ha | 2024 | — | volatile |
| 8 | Chile | 1,505 1000 ha | 2024 | down 14.4% | flat |
| 9 | Iceland | 1,161 1000 ha | 2024 | down 1.4% | flat |
| 10 | Tajikistan | 831.24 1000 ha | 2024 | up 1.1% | rising |
| 11 | Kyrgyzstan | 413.61 1000 ha | 2024 | up 0.6% | rising |
| 12 | Afghanistan | 323.54 1000 ha | 2024 | down 8.2% | rising |
| 13 | India | 314.76 1000 ha | 2024 | down 5.6% | rising |
| 14 | Argentina | 272.7 1000 ha | 2024 | up 4.9% | falling |
| 15 | Kazakhstan | 254.5 1000 ha | 2024 | down 37.1% | rising |
| 16 | Nepal | 209.99 1000 ha | 2024 | down 19.0% | rising |
| 17 | Pakistan | 166.47 1000 ha | 2024 | down 2.6% | rising |
| 18 | Australia and New Zealand | 106.54 1000 ha | 2024 | up 4.7% | falling |
| 19 | New Zealand | 76.35 1000 ha | 2024 | down 19.8% | falling |
| 20 | Peru | 51.17 1000 ha | 2024 | down 26.1% | rising |
| 21 | Switzerland | 45.04 1000 ha | 2024 | down 18.9% | falling |
| 22 | Sweden | 41.11 1000 ha | 2024 | up 27.6% | rising |
| 22 | Caribbean | 0 1000 ha | 2024 | — | volatile |
| 23 | Bhutan | 36.87 1000 ha | 2024 | down 26.5% | falling |
| 24 | Georgia | 35.78 1000 ha | 2024 | up 26.8% | flat |
| 25 | Uzbekistan | 29.38 1000 ha | 2024 | down 70.0% | volatile |
| 26 | South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands | 29.28 1000 ha | 2024 | down 2.4% | falling |
| 27 | Australia | 27.67 1000 ha | 2024 | up 634.0% | volatile |
| 28 | Austria | 15.88 1000 ha | 2024 | down 43.8% | falling |
| 29 | Mongolia | 13.76 1000 ha | 2024 | down 4.2% | flat |
| 30 | Italy | 10.63 1000 ha | 2024 | down 35.8% | falling |
| 31 | France | 6.76 1000 ha | 2024 | down 21.8% | falling |
| 32 | Turkmenistan | 5.57 1000 ha | 2024 | down 62.4% | volatile |
| 33 | Myanmar | 4.57 1000 ha | 2024 | up 93.6% | volatile |
| 34 | Ecuador | 2.91 1000 ha | 2024 | up 6.2% | flat |
| 35 | Heard Island and McDonald Islands | 2.52 1000 ha | 2024 | down 7.4% | falling |
| 36 | Colombia | 1 1000 ha | 2024 | down 30.1% | falling |
| 37 | Slovenia | 0.6 1000 ha | 2024 | down 54.9% | rising |
| 38 | Azerbaijan | 0.56 1000 ha | 2024 | up 51.4% | flat |
| 39 | French Southern Territories | 0.3 1000 ha | 2024 | down 18.9% | volatile |
| 40 | Malawi | 0.09 1000 ha | 2024 | — | volatile |
| 40 | Namibia | 0.09 1000 ha | 2024 | — | volatile |
| 42 | Albania | 0.06 1000 ha | 2024 | down 89.3% | falling |
| 42 | Mexico | 0.06 1000 ha | 2024 | down 81.2% | volatile |
| 44 | Germany | 0.02 1000 ha | 2024 | down 77.8% | volatile |
| 44 | Estonia | 0.02 1000 ha | 2024 | — | volatile |
| 46 | Armenia | 0 1000 ha | 2024 | down 100.0% | volatile |
| 46 | Bulgaria | 0 1000 ha | 2024 | down 100.0% | volatile |
| 46 | Bahamas | 0 1000 ha | 2024 | — | volatile |
| 46 | Brazil | 0 1000 ha | 2024 | down 100.0% | volatile |
| 46 | Botswana | 0 1000 ha | 2024 | — | volatile |
| 46 | Algeria | 0 1000 ha | 2024 | — | volatile |
| 46 | Egypt | 0 1000 ha | 2024 | — | volatile |
| 46 | Spain | 0 1000 ha | 2024 | — | volatile |
| 46 | Ethiopia | 0 1000 ha | 2024 | — | volatile |
| 46 | Finland | 0 1000 ha | 2024 | — | volatile |
| 46 | Fiji | 0 1000 ha | 2024 | — | volatile |
| 46 | Indonesia | 0 1000 ha | 2024 | — | volatile |
| 46 | Japan | 0 1000 ha | 2024 | — | volatile |
| 46 | Kiribati | 0 1000 ha | 2024 | down 100.0% | rising |
| 46 | Marshall Islands | 0 1000 ha | 2024 | — | volatile |
| 46 | Papua New Guinea | 0 1000 ha | 2024 | — | volatile |
| 46 | Portugal | 0 1000 ha | 2024 | — | volatile |
| 46 | French Polynesia | 0 1000 ha | 2024 | — | volatile |
| 46 | Saudi Arabia | 0 1000 ha | 2024 | — | volatile |
| 46 | Solomon Islands | 0 1000 ha | 2024 | — | volatile |
| 46 | Tunisia | 0 1000 ha | 2024 | — | volatile |
| 46 | Tuvalu | 0 1000 ha | 2024 | — | volatile |
| 46 | Uganda | 0 1000 ha | 2024 | — | volatile |
| 46 | South Africa | 0 1000 ha | 2024 | — | volatile |
| 46 | United States Minor Outlying Islands | 0 1000 ha | 2024 | — | volatile |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- World 1.42 million 1000 ha
- Asia 5,502 1000 ha
- Americas 220,003 1000 ha
- Northern America 218,125 1000 ha
- Europe 13,906 1000 ha
- Eastern Europe 8,881 1000 ha
- United States of America 7,198 1000 ha
- Northern Europe 4,946 1000 ha
- Eastern Asia 2,862 1000 ha
- South America 1,878 1000 ha
- Central Asia 1,534 1000 ha
- Southern Asia 1,055 1000 ha
- Oceania 106.54 1000 ha
- European Union (27) 75.02 1000 ha
- Western Europe 67.7 1000 ha
- Western Asia 46.07 1000 ha
- Southern Europe 11.29 1000 ha
- South-Eastern Asia 4.57 1000 ha
- Africa 0.59 1000 ha
- Eastern Africa 0.5 1000 ha
- Southern Africa 0.09 1000 ha
- Central America 0.06 1000 ha
- Northern Africa 0 1000 ha
About this data
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.