Australia vs United States: Environment

This page compares Australia and United States across 45 Environment indicators. Pick any indicator below for the full side-by-side trend, ranking, and difference.

See the full comparison overview or all indicators.

Indicator	Australia	United States	Detail
Population density (people per sq. km of land area)	3.47	36.82	Compare →
Rural population living in areas where elevation is below 5 meters (% of total population)	0.89	0.50	Compare →
Urban population living in areas where elevation is below 5 meters (% of total population)	2.71	1.48	Compare →
Population living in areas where elevation is below 5 meters (% of total population)	3.60	1.98	Compare →
Bird species, threatened	66.00	87.00	Compare →
Fish species, threatened	214.00	283.00	Compare →
Mammal species, threatened	69.00	43.00	Compare →
Plant species (higher), threatened	766.00	688.00	Compare →
Terrestrial protected areas (% of total land area)	22.00	12.90	Compare →
Terrestrial and marine protected areas (% of total territorial area)	33.50	15.80	Compare →
Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions excluding LULUCF per capita (t CO2e/capita)	14.10	13.62	Compare →
Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e)	591.45	5,912.62	Compare →
Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF per capita (t CO2e/capita)	21.75	17.38	Compare →
Methane (CH4) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e)	144.58	843.36	Compare →
Methane (CH4) emissions from Waste (Mt CO2e)	15.70	149.52	Compare →
Methane (CH4) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF (% change from 1990)	3.99	-3.07	Compare →
Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from Industrial Processes (Mt CO2e)	13.48	155.72	Compare →
Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e)	383.40	4,632.16	Compare →
Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from Industrial Processes (Mt CO2e)	6.82	33.89	Compare →
Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e)	50.81	215.60	Compare →
Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from Waste (Mt CO2e)	1.03	9.94	Compare →
Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF (% change from 1990)	30.90	-3.46	Compare →
Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (% change from 1990)	28.38	-4.89	Compare →
Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from Agriculture (Mt CO2e)	38.62	137.66	Compare →
Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture (Mt CO2e)	84.70	257.35	Compare →
Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF (% change from 1990)	38.06	-7.05	Compare →
Carbon intensity of GDP (kg CO2e per constant 2015 US$ of GDP)	0.23	0.21	Compare →
PM2.5 air pollution, mean annual exposure (micrograms per cubic meter)	8.25	7.81	Compare →
Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from Building (Energy) (Mt CO2e)	1.73	5.54	Compare →
Methane (CH4) emissions from Building (Energy) (Mt CO2e)	0.48	9.47	Compare →
Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from Transport (Energy) (Mt CO2e)	100.51	1,678.56	Compare →
PM2.5 air pollution, population exposed to levels exceeding WHO guideline value (% of total)	24.89	3.34	Compare →
Methane (CH4) emissions from Power Industry (Energy) (Mt CO2e)	0.10	2.00	Compare →
Methane (CH4) emissions from Transport (Energy) (Mt CO2e)	0.20	3.59	Compare →
Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from Power Industry (Energy) (Mt CO2e)	163.10	1,488.46	Compare →
Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from Power Industry (Energy) (Mt CO2e)	0.72	5.58	Compare →
Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from Transport (Energy) (Mt CO2e)	1.64	20.68	Compare →
Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from Industrial Combustion (Energy) (Mt CO2e)	0.23	2.00	Compare →
Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from Building (Energy) (Mt CO2e)	29.86	557.85	Compare →
Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from Industrial Combustion (Energy) (Mt CO2e)	39.55	443.92	Compare →
Methane (CH4) emissions from Industrial Combustion (Energy) (Mt CO2e)	0.16	1.54	Compare →
Methane (CH4) emissions from Fugitive Emissions (Energy) (Mt CO2e)	43.21	418.87	Compare →
Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from Fugitive Emissions (Energy) (Mt CO2e)	34.10	300.82	Compare →
Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from Fugitive Emissions (Energy) (Mt CO2e)	0.02	0.31	Compare →
Carbon dioxide (CO2) net fluxes from LULUCF - Total excluding non-tropical fires (Mt CO2e)	-95.82	-921.79	Compare →

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Source: World Bank Open Data, CC BY 4.0. Values shown are the most recent reported year for each indicator and may differ between countries.