Environment
Population living in areas where elevation is below 5 meters (% of total population)
Population below 5m is the percentage of the total population living in areas where the elevation is 5 meters or less.
World Bank code: EN.POP.EL5M.ZS • Data available for 215 countries • Latest year: 2015
In , Guyana led Population living in areas where elevation is below 5 meters (% of total population) at 78.48.
The world median across 215 reporting countries was 2.95.
How "Environment" indicators are measured
Environmental indicators cover emissions, land use, biodiversity, and natural resources. Emissions data is often produced by international scientific consortia (EDGAR, Global Carbon Project) and typically lags 2–3 years due to the complexity of fuel- and process-level accounting. Per-capita metrics reveal a different story than absolute totals — small wealthy countries can have high per-capita emissions while contributing little to the global total.
Distribution — 2015
- Reporting
- 215 countries
- Median
- 2.95
- Mean
- 7.30
- 25th percentile
- 0.41
- 75th percentile
- 7.56
- Range
- 0.00 – 78.48
World at a Glance — 2015
Every reporting country, grouped by region, shaded by value (quintile).
Lighter = lower value · Darker = higher value. Hover a cell to see the country and value.
Highest Values — 2015
| # | Country | Population living in areas where elevation is below 5 meters (% of total population) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guyana Latin America & Caribbean | 78.48 |
| 2 | Suriname Latin America & Caribbean | 71.28 |
| 3 | Marshall Islands East Asia & Pacific | 67.97 |
| 4 | Greenland Europe & Central Asia | 59.86 |
| 5 | Gibraltar Europe & Central Asia | 56.41 |
| 6 | Netherlands Europe & Central Asia | 53.69 |
| 7 | Maldives South Asia | 49.17 |
| 8 | Tuvalu East Asia & Pacific | 39.27 |
| 9 | Belize Latin America & Caribbean | 33.86 |
| 10 | Kiribati East Asia & Pacific | 33.53 |
Looking for a specific country? Only the top and bottom 10 appear here. See where every country ranks for Population living in areas where elevation is below 5 meters (% of total population).
View complete rankings →By Income Group — Average
| Income group | Countries | Mean |
|---|---|---|
| High income | 85 | 9.18 |
| Upper middle income | 53 | 8.71 |
| Lower middle income | 50 | 5.30 |
| Low income | 25 | 2.35 |
| Not classified | 2 | 2.03 |
By Region — Average
| Region | Countries | Mean |
|---|---|---|
| East Asia & Pacific | 37 | 12.90 |
| Europe & Central Asia | 56 | 5.46 |
| Latin America & Caribbean | 42 | 9.73 |
| Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan | 23 | 6.19 |
| North America | 3 | 3.55 |
| South Asia | 6 | 10.54 |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 48 | 3.36 |
Lowest Values — 2015
| # | Country | Population living in areas where elevation is below 5 meters (% of total population) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zimbabwe | 0.00 |
| 2 | Malawi | 0.00 |
| 3 | Luxembourg | 0.00 |
| 4 | Moldova | 0.00 |
| 5 | Liechtenstein | 0.00 |
| 6 | Mongolia | 0.00 |
| 7 | Lesotho | 0.00 |
| 8 | Lao PDR | 0.00 |
| 9 | Kyrgyz Republic | 0.00 |
| 10 | Nepal | 0.00 |
Source: World Bank Open Data (EN.POP.EL5M.ZS), CC BY 4.0. Rankings show countries with available data for 2015.