List of countries by ecological footprint

This is a list of countries by ecological footprint. The table is based on data spanning from 1961 to 2013 from the Global Footprint Network's National Footprint Accounts published in 2016. Numbers are given in global hectares per capita. The world-average ecological footprint in 2016 was 2.75 global hectares per person (22.6 billion in total). With a world-average biocapacity of 1.63 global hectares (gha) per person (12.2 billion in total), this leads to a global ecological deficit of 1.1 global hectares per person (10.4 billion in total).

For humanity, having a footprint smaller than the planet's biocapacity is a necessary condition for sustainability. After all, ecological overuse is only possible temporarily. A country that consumes more than 1.73 gha per person has a resource demand that is not sustainable world-wide if every country were to exceed that consumption level simultaneously. Countries with a footprint below 1.73 gha per person might not be sustainable: the quality of the footprint may still lead to net long-term ecological destruction. If a country does not have enough ecological resources within its own territory to cover its population's footprint, then it runs an ecological deficit and the country is termed an ecological debtor. Otherwise, it has an ecological reserve and it is called a creditor. To a significant degree, biocapacity correlates with access to water resources.

Countries and regions

The table below is based on 2025 results produced by York University, Footprint Data Foundation, and Global Footprint Network, is available on Global Footprint Network's website.

Rank Country/region Ecologicalfootprint Biocapacity Biocapacitydeficit orreserve Population(millions) Total biocapacity deficit or reserve (gMha)Population (millions) for biocapacity to equal ecological footprint*(gha/person) World 2.51 1.48 −1.03 8231.61 −8518.354839.101287 1 11.73 0.83 −10.90 3.12 −33.960.221140 2 10.12 1.20 −8.92 0.68 −6.070.080430 3 7.53 12.49 4.96 3.52 17.465.836978 4 7.05 3.68 −3.37 347.28 −1170.71181.285561 5 6.67 9.23 2.56 1.34 3.451.861147 6 6.62 13.46 6.84 40.13 274.5681.587732 7 6.52 8.92 2.40 1.85 4.452.536771 8 6.45 3.71 −2.74 6.00 −16.423.454800 9 5.71 5.41 −0.30 2.83 −0.862.679932 10 5.66 0.42 −5.24 0.55 −2.860.040130 11 5.39 2.43 −2.96 2.12 −6.260.955760 12 5.39 7.38 1.98 144.00 285.61196.960710 13 5.38 2.76 −2.62 9.11 −23.904.669472 14 5.11 0.65 −4.45 51.67 −230.186.585580 15 5.05 2.52 −2.53 10.61 −26.855.297189 16 5.05 8.21 3.16 10.66 33.7017.335631 17 4.94 1.30 −3.65 5.49 −20.051.440226 18 4.93 2.64 −2.29 0.63 −1.450.338738 19 4.82 0.98 −3.83 11.76 −45.062.401609 20 4.77 4.64 −0.14 0.80 −0.110.774108 21 4.76 2.55 −2.20 3.85 −8.482.064838 22 4.72 0.94 −3.79 0.09 −0.360.018708 23 4.49 0.28 −4.21 0.28 −1.190.017659 24 4.45 2.50 −1.95 66.69 −129.9537.490296 25 4.41 6.40 1.99 5.62 11.198.162598 26 4.34 2.10 −2.24 38.14 −85.3818.448787 27 4.26 1.62 −2.64 10.41 −27.533.951264 28 4.25 2.14 −2.11 6.69 −14.123.364611 29 4.23 1.96 −2.27 7.62 −17.323.527422 30 4.12 3.59 −0.53 9.00 −4.767.842618 31 4.11 1.91 −2.21 35.98 −79.3516.677860 32 4.02 2.78 −1.24 5.47 −6.773.790600 33 4.00 0.29 −3.71 1.37 −5.080.100254 34 3.98 0.19 −3.79 9.52 −36.060.463947 35 3.97 0.98 −2.99 59.18 −176.9314.612295 36 3.96 0.76 −3.20 1.27 −4.060.242562 37 3.94 0.67 −3.26 123.10 −401.7321.031796 38 3.87 1.06 −2.80 8.97 −25.152.465440 39 3.78 1.60 −2.18 84.08 −183.1835.586950 40 3.76 1.48 −2.28 0.10 −0.240.040841 41 3.76 3.11 −0.65 19.86 −12.9116.425625 42 3.76 0.79 −2.96 1447.33 −4289.12305.721474 43 3.68 1.85 −1.83 0.12 −0.220.058899 44 3.56 1.42 −2.13 9.94 −21.213.975530 45 3.42 1.49 −1.93 8.17 −15.803.557198 46 3.41 1.08 −2.33 69.55 −162.2021.966696 47 3.39 1.72 −1.66 1.81 −3.020.922973 48 3.18 1.51 −1.67 87.69 −146.3441.689539 49 3.18 1.23 −1.95 47.89 −93.4218.475528 50 3.12 2.42 −0.70 0.93 −0.650.724731 51 3.05 2.61 −0.44 18.91 −8.4016.153620 52 2.72 0.42 −2.30 0.18 −0.410.027914 53 2.67 4.88 2.21 45.85 101.2683.797838 54 2.65 1.17 −1.48 131.95 −195.0958.228855 55 2.62 1.45 −1.16 5.15 −6.002.860089 56 2.57 12.88 10.31 12.58 129.6662.947930 57 2.56 1.16 −1.40 64.75 −90.7629.286608 58 2.46 1.12 −1.34 71.62 −95.8532.687269 59 2.44 8.10 5.65 212.81 1203.36705.284702 60 2.40 1.11 −1.29 2.77 −3.591.277751 61 2.37 8.78 6.41 7.01 44.9425.937438 62 2.32 3.45 1.13 34.58 39.0351.407059 63 2.30 0.73 −1.58 11.52 −18.173.630005 64 2.30 0.91 −1.39 101.60 −141.4240.046807 65 2.30 0.81 −1.49 37.05 −55.2112.996733 66 2.29 1.35 −0.94 0.22 −0.210.129254 67 2.16 0.32 −1.84 5.85 −10.780.867507 68 2.15 0.54 −1.62 6.37 −10.291.587431 69 2.15 2.84 0.69 2.56 1.763.380019 70 2.02 0.29 −1.73 47.02 −81.196.782035 71 1.95 0.52 −1.43 2.84 −4.050.760078 72 1.93 2.90 0.97 28.52 27.7342.917842 73 1.90 0.99 −0.91 35.06 −31.8518.306574 74 1.89 6.94 5.05 5.51 27.8420.211380 75 1.85 3.08 1.23 53.43 65.7088.999124 76 1.82 0.78 −1.04 1.26 −1.310.536019 77 1.75 1.77 0.02 15.10 0.3215.284029 78 1.70 1.09 −0.61 10.94 −6.716.992923 79 1.66 1.15 −0.51 285.72 −146.28197.561452 80 1.63 0.72 −0.90 12.35 −11.165.495216 81 1.58 1.07 −0.51 17.85 −9.1212.089206 82 1.50 0.93 −0.57 18.93 −10.7211.761840 83 1.45 2.50 1.04 5.73 5.989.847139 84 1.38 0.16 −1.22 11.52 −14.041.312263 85 1.37 0.43 −0.94 116.79 −109.7536.700138 86 1.36 0.26 −1.10 118.37 −130.7622.342758 87 1.27 0.54 −0.73 23.23 −16.909.935570 88 1.27 1.35 0.08 51.66 4.0854.880392 89 1.24 0.62 −0.63 16.95 −10.628.398369 90 1.17 0.90 −0.27 27.92 −7.5921.458269 91 1.17 1.14 −0.02 21.00 −0.5220.558845 92 1.15 1.32 0.17 32.71 5.5737.556751 93 1.14 0.78 −0.35 24.07 −8.4416.637917 94 1.13 0.38 −0.75 1463.87 −1098.20492.302190 95 1.11 0.17 −0.94 5.59 −5.280.838386 96 1.11 1.42 0.31 21.91 6.7327.983762 97 1.10 1.34 0.24 54.85 12.9366.608254 98 1.10 1.27 0.18 25.20 4.4129.219395 99 1.07 0.51 −0.55 9.72 −5.384.675149 100 1.06 0.53 −0.54 51.38 −27.6125.437502 101 1.04 0.57 −0.47 14.81 −6.948.150020 102 1.03 0.44 −0.59 10.79 −6.344.646024 103 1.03 1.33 0.30 29.88 9.0038.641597 104 0.99 0.51 −0.49 57.53 −28.0429.284970 105 0.97 0.77 −0.20 8.82 −1.786.990221 106 0.97 7.16 6.19 6.48 40.1247.845228 107 0.97 0.76 −0.21 70.55 −14.8355.214756 108 0.94 1.51 0.57 7.87 4.5012.656726 109 0.91 0.32 −0.59 175.69 −102.9462.049110 110 0.89 1.47 0.57 1.42 0.812.328835 111 0.89 0.41 −0.47 29.62 −14.0313.802626 112 0.88 0.48 −0.40 135.47 −53.5474.405423 113 0.81 0.40 −0.41 14.57 −6.057.142751 114 0.80 0.60 −0.20 19.65 −3.9214.774768 115 0.80 0.48 −0.33 25.62 −8.3315.212753 116 0.78 0.62 −0.16 22.22 −3.5417.691953 117 0.77 0.50 −0.27 43.84 −12.0328.273890 118 0.74 0.41 −0.32 237.53 −77.12133.156445 119 0.72 0.41 −0.31 255.22 −79.85144.685542 120 0.71 1.92 1.20 3.61 4.349.682040 121 0.71 1.24 0.53 39.04 20.7768.413482 122 0.67 1.73 1.05 32.74 34.5384.059142 123 0.65 1.59 0.94 112.83 105.95276.617174 124 0.62 0.23 −0.39 11.91 −4.704.374327 125 0.62 0.38 −0.24 14.39 −3.488.750647 126 0.59 1.24 0.65 35.63 23.1274.964870 127 0.51 0.28 −0.24 41.77 −9.8222.659941 *Assumes that biocapacity and ecological footprint per person will not change when population changes.

List of countries by ecological footprint

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