Shrub-covered areas — Area from MODIS in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka: Shrub-covered areas — Area from MODIS was 0.41 1000 ha in 2024. ▼ Falling
Shrub-covered areas — Area from MODIS in Sri Lanka, 2001–2024
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in 1000 ha.
Analysis
The most recent figure for shrub-covered areas — area from modis in Sri Lanka is 0.41 1000 ha, measured in 2024. That is the lowest value across all 24 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 38.8% on the previous year and down 64.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, shrub-covered areas — area from modis in Sri Lanka peaked at 3.13 1000 ha in 2003 and was at its lowest, 0.41 1000 ha, in 2024.
That places Sri Lanka 111th out of 223 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 24 years of available data.
Shrub-covered areas — Area from MODIS in Sri Lanka, year by year
| Year | 1000 ha | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 2.38 1000 ha | — |
| 2002 | 2.47 1000 ha | +3.8% |
| 2003 | 3.13 1000 ha | +26.7% |
| 2004 | 2.17 1000 ha | -30.7% |
| 2005 | 1.48 1000 ha | -31.8% |
| 2006 | 1.43 1000 ha | -3.4% |
| 2007 | 1.64 1000 ha | +14.7% |
| 2008 | 1.92 1000 ha | +17.1% |
| 2009 | 2.42 1000 ha | +26.0% |
| 2010 | 1.82 1000 ha | -24.8% |
| 2011 | 1.14 1000 ha | -37.4% |
| 2012 | 0.83 1000 ha | -27.2% |
| 2013 | 0.93 1000 ha | +12.0% |
| 2014 | 1.15 1000 ha | +23.7% |
| 2015 | 1.25 1000 ha | +8.7% |
| 2016 | 1.33 1000 ha | +6.4% |
| 2017 | 1.76 1000 ha | +32.3% |
| 2018 | 1.95 1000 ha | +10.8% |
| 2019 | 1.89 1000 ha | -3.1% |
| 2020 | 2.01 1000 ha | +6.3% |
| 2021 | 0.95 1000 ha | -52.7% |
| 2022 | 0.84 1000 ha | -11.6% |
| 2023 | 0.67 1000 ha | -20.2% |
| 2024 | 0.41 1000 ha | -38.8% |
Sri Lanka compared with similar countries
- Sri Lanka's 0.41 1000 ha is below the median for upper middle income countries, which is 0.445 1000 ha, 92% of the median. (52 countries reporting)
- Sri Lanka's 0.41 1000 ha is above the median for South Asia, which is 0.01 1000 ha, 41.0× the median. (6 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 2.12 1000 ha | 1.43 1000 ha | 3.13 1000 ha | 9 |
| 2010s | 1.41 1000 ha | 0.83 1000 ha | 1.95 1000 ha | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.976 1000 ha | 0.41 1000 ha | 2.01 1000 ha | 5 |
Countries ranked near Sri Lanka
- 108 Albania 0.57 1000 ha compare
- 109 Antarctica 0.5 1000 ha compare
- 110 Fiji 0.48 1000 ha compare
- 111 Serbia and Montenegro 0.41 1000 ha compare
- 113 Philippines 0.37 1000 ha compare
- 114 Comoros 0.34 1000 ha compare
- 114 Switzerland 0.34 1000 ha compare
More environment data for Sri Lanka
- Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly 5.24 Percentage change (2025)
- Historical exposure to drought — Cropland soil moisture anomaly 5.49 Percentage change (2025)
- Standard Deviation, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Standard Deviation 0.207 °C (2025)
- Temperature change 0.849 °C (2025)
- Wood-based panels — Production, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), annual 5.63 % 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 1.22 % change on previous year (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is shrub-covered areas — area from modis in Sri Lanka?
- Shrub-covered areas — area from modis in Sri Lanka was 0.41 1000 ha in 2024, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
- What is the highest shrub-covered areas — area from modis recorded in Sri Lanka?
- The highest recorded value was 3.13 1000 ha in 2003.
- What is the lowest shrub-covered areas — area from modis recorded in Sri Lanka?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.41 1000 ha in 2024.
- How does Sri Lanka rank for shrub-covered areas — area from modis?
- Sri Lanka ranks 111th out of 223 countries with data for 2024.
- Is shrub-covered areas — area from modis rising or falling in Sri Lanka?
- Over the last ten years it is down 64.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Sri Lanka data come from?
- The figures come from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, published as part of Shrub-covered areas — 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.