Forest fires — Burned Area in Eastern Africa
Eastern Africa: Forest fires — Burned Area was 6.22 million ha in 2024. ▲ Rising
Forest fires — Burned Area in Eastern Africa, 1990–2024
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in ha.
Analysis
The most recent figure for forest fires — burned area in Eastern Africa is 6.22 million ha, measured in 2024.
That represents a change of up 6.9% on the previous year and down 35.7% over ten years.
Over the whole period, forest fires — burned area in Eastern Africa peaked at 10.85 million ha in 2010 and was at its lowest, 778,134 ha, in 2000.
Eastern Africa ranks 9th of 31 groups on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 35 years of available data.
Forest fires — Burned Area in Eastern Africa, year by year
| Year | ha | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 7.27 million ha | — |
| 1991 | 7.27 million ha | +0.0% |
| 1992 | 7.27 million ha | +0.0% |
| 1993 | 7.27 million ha | +0.0% |
| 1994 | 7.27 million ha | +0.0% |
| 1995 | 7.27 million ha | +0.0% |
| 1996 | 1.20 million ha | -83.5% |
| 1997 | 1.26 million ha | +4.9% |
| 1998 | 1.35 million ha | +7.2% |
| 1999 | 1.36 million ha | +0.4% |
| 2000 | 778,134 ha | -42.6% |
| 2001 | 6.58 million ha | +745.3% |
| 2002 | 5.57 million ha | -15.4% |
| 2003 | 8.08 million ha | +45.2% |
| 2004 | 8.27 million ha | +2.3% |
| 2005 | 9.39 million ha | +13.6% |
| 2006 | 7.87 million ha | -16.2% |
| 2007 | 8.18 million ha | +4.0% |
| 2008 | 9.07 million ha | +10.9% |
| 2009 | 8.26 million ha | -8.9% |
| 2010 | 10.85 million ha | +31.3% |
| 2011 | 9.65 million ha | -11.0% |
| 2012 | 10.53 million ha | +9.1% |
| 2013 | 9.92 million ha | -5.8% |
| 2014 | 9.69 million ha | -2.3% |
| 2015 | 10.50 million ha | +8.4% |
| 2016 | 10.71 million ha | +2.0% |
| 2017 | 10.50 million ha | -1.9% |
| 2018 | 9.86 million ha | -6.1% |
| 2019 | 8.95 million ha | -9.2% |
| 2020 | 8.39 million ha | -6.3% |
| 2021 | 7.97 million ha | -5.0% |
| 2022 | 7.24 million ha | -9.2% |
| 2023 | 5.82 million ha | -19.5% |
| 2024 | 6.22 million ha | +6.9% |
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Forest fires — Burned Area in Eastern Africa changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | +745.3% | 778,134 ha | 6.58 million ha |
| 1996 | -83.5% | 7.27 million ha | 1.20 million ha |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 4.88 million ha | 1.20 million ha | 7.27 million ha | 10 |
| 2000s | 7.20 million ha | 778,134 ha | 9.39 million ha | 10 |
| 2010s | 10.12 million ha | 8.95 million ha | 10.85 million ha | 10 |
| 2020s | 7.13 million ha | 5.82 million ha | 8.39 million ha | 5 |
Countries ranked near Eastern Africa
- 6 Lao People's Democratic Republic 481,396 ha compare
- 6 OECD 1.77 million ha compare
- 7 Myanmar 1.29 million ha compare
- 7 United Republic of Tanzania 414,900 ha compare
- 8 Russian Federation 723,318 ha compare
- 8 Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) 316,286 ha compare
- 9 Canada 717,855 ha compare
- 10 Mexico 557,291 ha compare
- 10 Viet Nam 77,644 ha compare
- 11 Democratic People's Republic of Korea 10,553 ha compare
- 11 India 523,649 ha compare
- 12 Cambodia 470,662 ha compare
- 12 Melanesia 8,913 ha compare
More climate change data for Eastern Africa
- Nutrient nitrogen N (total) — Synthetic fertilizers (Agricultural) 2.15 billion kg (2050)
- Emissions from livestock — Emissions (CO2eq) 337,539 kt (2050)
- Emissions from livestock — Emissions (CO2eq) from N2O 111,806 kt (2050)
- Emissions from livestock — Emissions (CO2eq) from CH4 225,733 kt (2050)
- Emissions from livestock — Emissions 421.91 kt (2050)
- Emissions from livestock — Emissions 8,062 kt (2050)
- Emissions from crops — Emissions (CO2eq) 36,052 kt (2050)
- Emissions from crops — Emissions (CO2eq) from N2O 19,110 kt (2050)
- Emissions from crops — Emissions (CO2eq) from CH4 16,942 kt (2050)
- Emissions from crops — Emissions 72.11 kt (2050)
Frequently asked questions
- What is forest fires — burned area in Eastern Africa?
- Forest fires — burned area in Eastern Africa was 6.22 million ha in 2024, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
- What is the highest forest fires — burned area recorded in Eastern Africa?
- The highest recorded value was 10.85 million ha in 2010.
- What is the lowest forest fires — burned area recorded in Eastern Africa?
- The lowest recorded value was 778,134 ha in 2000.
- How does Eastern Africa rank for forest fires — burned area?
- Eastern Africa ranks 9th out of 31 groups with data for 2024.
- Is forest fires — burned area rising or falling in Eastern Africa?
- Over the last ten years it is down 35.7%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Eastern Africa data come from?
- The figures come from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, published as part of Forest fires — Burned Area. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 35 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO).
About this data
The FAOSTAT domain on Emissions from Fires consists of estimates of methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions generated from biomass burning in a range of vegetation types and from fires in organic soils.