Permanent snow and glaciers — Area from MODIS in Bhutan
Bhutan: Permanent snow and glaciers — Area from MODIS was 36.87 1000 ha in 2024. ▼ Falling
Permanent snow and glaciers — Area from MODIS in Bhutan, 2001–2024
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in 1000 ha.
Analysis
In 2024, permanent snow and glaciers — area from modis in Bhutan stood at 36.87 1000 ha. That is the lowest value across all 24 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 7.7% on the previous year and down 26.5% over ten years.
Over the whole period, permanent snow and glaciers — area from modis in Bhutan peaked at 63.01 1000 ha in 2001 and was at its lowest, 36.87 1000 ha, in 2024.
Bhutan ranks 23rd of 223 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 24 years of available data.
Permanent snow and glaciers — Area from MODIS in Bhutan, year by year
| Year | 1000 ha | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 63.01 1000 ha | — |
| 2002 | 52.47 1000 ha | -16.7% |
| 2003 | 49.19 1000 ha | -6.3% |
| 2004 | 54.44 1000 ha | +10.7% |
| 2005 | 52.51 1000 ha | -3.5% |
| 2006 | 51.27 1000 ha | -2.4% |
| 2007 | 46.4 1000 ha | -9.5% |
| 2008 | 50.71 1000 ha | +9.3% |
| 2009 | 47.92 1000 ha | -5.5% |
| 2010 | 45.82 1000 ha | -4.4% |
| 2011 | 48.85 1000 ha | +6.6% |
| 2012 | 46.9 1000 ha | -4.0% |
| 2013 | 49.64 1000 ha | +5.8% |
| 2014 | 50.15 1000 ha | +1.0% |
| 2015 | 47.71 1000 ha | -4.9% |
| 2016 | 47.69 1000 ha | -0.0% |
| 2017 | 45.8 1000 ha | -4.0% |
| 2018 | 44.32 1000 ha | -3.2% |
| 2019 | 44.2 1000 ha | -0.3% |
| 2020 | 41.86 1000 ha | -5.3% |
| 2021 | 44.6 1000 ha | +6.5% |
| 2022 | 46.53 1000 ha | +4.3% |
| 2023 | 39.93 1000 ha | -14.2% |
| 2024 | 36.87 1000 ha | -7.7% |
Bhutan compared with similar countries
- Bhutan's 36.87 1000 ha is above the median for South Asia, which is 18.43 1000 ha, 2.0× the median. (6 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 51.99 1000 ha | 46.4 1000 ha | 63.01 1000 ha | 9 |
| 2010s | 47.11 1000 ha | 44.2 1000 ha | 50.15 1000 ha | 10 |
| 2020s | 41.96 1000 ha | 36.87 1000 ha | 46.53 1000 ha | 5 |
Countries ranked near Bhutan
- 20 Peru 51.17 1000 ha compare
- 21 Switzerland 45.04 1000 ha compare
- 22 Cabo Verde 0 1000 ha
- 22 Côte d'Ivoire 0 1000 ha
- 22 Sweden 41.11 1000 ha compare
- 22 Caribbean 0 1000 ha compare
- 24 Georgia 35.78 1000 ha compare
- 25 Uzbekistan 29.38 1000 ha compare
- 26 South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands 29.28 1000 ha compare
More environment data for Bhutan
- Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly 0.2782 Percentage change (2025)
- Historical exposure to drought — Cropland soil moisture anomaly 0.5977 Percentage change (2025)
- Standard Deviation, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Standard Deviation 0.257 °C (2025)
- Temperature change 2.08 °C (2025)
- Wood-based panels — Production, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), annual 0.487 % change on previous year (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), per unit 0 Mt CO2e per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), per capita 0 Mt CO2e per person (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture (Mt CO2e), annual growth rate -5.53 % change on previous year (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is permanent snow and glaciers — area from modis in Bhutan?
- Permanent snow and glaciers — area from modis in Bhutan was 36.87 1000 ha in 2024, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
- What is the highest permanent snow and glaciers — area from modis recorded in Bhutan?
- The highest recorded value was 63.01 1000 ha in 2001.
- What is the lowest permanent snow and glaciers — area from modis recorded in Bhutan?
- The lowest recorded value was 36.87 1000 ha in 2024.
- How does Bhutan rank for permanent snow and glaciers — area from modis?
- Bhutan ranks 23rd out of 223 countries with data for 2024.
- Is permanent snow and glaciers — area from modis rising or falling in Bhutan?
- Over the last ten years it is down 26.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Bhutan data come from?
- The figures come from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, published as part of Permanent snow and glaciers — Area from MODIS. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 24 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO).
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.