Marine protected areas in Low & middle income
Low & middle income: Marine protected areas was 6.7% in 2025. ▲ Rising
Marine protected areas in Low & middle income, 2013–2025
Source: Protected Planet: The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) and World Database on Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (WD-OECM), UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring. Measured in % of territorial waters.
Analysis
The most recent figure for marine protected areas in Low & middle income is 6.7%, measured in 2025. That is the highest value across all 13 years on record.
That represents a change of up 0.3% on the previous year and up 171.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, marine protected areas in Low & middle income peaked at 6.7% in 2025 and was at its lowest, 2.5%, in 2015.
Low & middle income ranks 26th of 47 groups on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 13 years of available data.
Marine protected areas in Low & middle income, year by year
| Year | % of territorial waters | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 2.5% | — |
| 2014 | 2.6% | +2.0% |
| 2015 | 2.5% | -4.0% |
| 2016 | 3.7% | +49.1% |
| 2017 | 3.9% | +5.9% |
| 2018 | 5.7% | +46.9% |
| 2019 | 5.8% | +2.1% |
| 2020 | 6.0% | +3.0% |
| 2021 | 6.1% | +1.0% |
| 2022 | 6.3% | +3.6% |
| 2023 | 6.3% | +0.1% |
| 2024 | 6.6% | +5.8% |
| 2025 | 6.7% | +0.3% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 3.8% | 2.5% | 5.8% | 7 |
| 2020s | 6.3% | 6.0% | 6.7% | 6 |
Countries ranked near Low & middle income
More climate change data for Low & middle income
- Population growth 1.0% (2025)
- Population, total 6.79 billion (2025)
- Urban population growth 1.6% (2025)
- Urban population 3.61 billion (2025)
- Urban population 53.1% (2025)
- Population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million 22.8% (2025)
- Annual freshwater withdrawals, total 2,902 billion cubic meters (2022)
- Annual freshwater withdrawals, total 10.4% (2022)
- Terrestrial protected areas 16.4% (2025)
- Terrestrial and marine protected areas 12.3% (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is marine protected areas in Low & middle income?
- Marine protected areas in Low & middle income was 6.7% in 2025, according to Protected Planet: The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) and World Database on Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (WD-OECM), UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring.
- What is the highest marine protected areas recorded in Low & middle income?
- The highest recorded value was 6.7% in 2025.
- What is the lowest marine protected areas recorded in Low & middle income?
- The lowest recorded value was 2.5% in 2015.
- How does Low & middle income rank for marine protected areas?
- Low & middle income ranks 26th out of 47 groups with data for 2025.
- Is marine protected areas rising or falling in Low & middle income?
- Over the last ten years it is up 171.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Low & middle income data come from?
- The figures come from Protected Planet: The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) and World Database on Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (WD-OECM), UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring, published as part of Marine protected areas (% of territorial waters). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 13 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Marine protected areas are areas of intertidal or subtidal terrain--and overlying water and associated flora and fauna and historical and cultural features--that have been reserved by law or other effective means to protect part or all of the enclosed environment.