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Environment

Terrestrial and marine protected areas (% of total territorial area)

Terrestrial protected areas are totally or partially protected areas of at least 1,000 hectares that are designated by national authorities as scientific reserves with limited public access, national parks, natural monuments, nature reserves or wildlife sanctuaries, protected landscapes, and areas managed mainly for sustainable use. 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. Sites protected under local or provincial law are excluded.

World Bank code: ER.PTD.TOTL.ZS • Data available for 213 countries • Latest year: 2025

In , Monaco led Terrestrial and marine protected areas (% of total territorial area) at 99.50.

The world median across 213 reporting countries was 11.60.

What this measures: Terrestrial protected areas are totally or partially protected areas of at least 1,000 hectares that are designated by national authorities as scientific reserves with limited public access, national parks, natural monuments, nature reserves or wildlife sanctuaries, protected landscapes, and areas managed mainly for sustainable use. 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. Sites protected under local or provincial law are excluded.

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 — 2025

Reporting
213 countries
Median
11.60
Mean
15.42
25th percentile
3.60
75th percentile
22.10
Range
0.00 – 99.50

World at a Glance — 2025

Every reporting country, grouped by region, shaded by value (quintile).

East Asia & PacificAmerican Samoa: 8.70ASAustralia: 33.50AUBrunei Darussalam: 7.50BNCambodia: 31.80KHChina: 14.70CNFiji: 1.00FJFrench Polynesia: 87.30PFGuam: 0.00GUHong Kong SAR, China: 42.00HKIndonesia: 5.20IDJapan: 15.10JPKiribati: 11.90KIKorea, Dem. People's Rep.: 1.30KPKorea, Rep.: 5.90KRLao PDR: 18.80LAMalaysia: 8.40MYMarshall Islands: 0.30MHMicronesia, Fed. Sts.: 0.00FMMongolia: 19.80MNMyanmar: 4.10MMNauru: 0.00NRNew Caledonia: 96.00NCNew Zealand: 30.60NZNorthern Mariana Islands: 32.40MPPalau: 98.00PWPapua New Guinea: 0.70PGPhilippines: 3.60PHSamoa: 0.30WSSingapore: 2.10SGSolomon Islands: 0.20SBThailand: 13.40THTimor-Leste: 4.70TLTonga: 0.10TOTuvalu: 0.00TVVanuatu: 0.10VUViet Nam: 2.90VNEurope & Central AsiaAlbania: 18.00ALAndorra: 27.30ADArmenia: 38.90AMAustria: 29.60ATAzerbaijan: 12.00AZBelarus: 9.20BYBelgium: 18.60BEBosnia and Herzegovina: 9.50BABulgaria: 35.60BGCroatia: 24.10HRCyprus: 11.10CYCzechia: 21.90CZDenmark: 23.80DKEstonia: 20.50EEFaroe Islands: 0.00FOFinland: 13.50FIFrance: 36.70FRGeorgia: 17.40GEGermany: 40.00DEGibraltar: 14.40GIGreece: 11.20GRGreenland: 22.60GLHungary: 22.30HUIceland: 2.90ISIreland: 4.00IEIsle of Man: 4.60IMItaly: 14.80ITKazakhstan: 11.80KZKyrgyz Republic: 6.80KGLatvia: 18.10LVLiechtenstein: 44.80LILithuania: 18.40LTLuxembourg: 39.10LUMoldova: 11.50MDMonaco: 99.50MCMontenegro: 16.30MENetherlands: 29.80NLNorth Macedonia: 29.00MKNorway: 5.40NOPoland: 38.10PLPortugal: 17.20PTRomania: 24.30RORussian Federation: 8.60RUSerbia: 14.00RSSlovak Republic: 37.50SKSlovenia: 40.10SISpain: 22.10ESSweden: 15.90SESwitzerland: 12.50CHTajikistan: 22.60TJTurkiye: 5.70TRTurkmenistan: 4.30TMUkraine: 17.90UAUnited Kingdom: 42.10GBUzbekistan: 14.10UZLatin America & CaribbeanAntigua and Barbuda: 0.80AGArgentina: 9.70ARAruba: 0.60AWBahamas, The: 8.30BSBarbados: 0.10BBBelize: 26.80BZBolivia: 30.90BOBrazil: 29.40BRBritish Virgin Islands: 0.00VGCayman Islands: 0.10KYChile: 37.90CLColombia: 26.50COCosta Rica: 28.20CRCuba: 6.90CUCuracao: 0.30CWDominica: 0.60DMDominican Republic: 15.30DOEcuador: 20.20ECEl Salvador: 2.10SVGrenada: 0.20GDGuatemala: 10.20GTGuyana: 5.10GYHaiti: 3.00HTHonduras: 11.10HNJamaica: 1.60JMMexico: 19.90MXNicaragua: 10.10NIPanama: 27.20PAParaguay: 14.90PYPeru: 16.50PEPuerto Rico (US): 2.30PRSint Maarten (Dutch part): 4.70SXSt. Kitts and Nevis: 4.80KNSt. Lucia: 1.00LCSt. Martin (French part): 92.30MFSt. Vincent and the Grenadines: 0.50VCSuriname: 8.60SRTrinidad and Tobago: 2.00TTTurks and Caicos Islands: 0.50TCUruguay: 2.40UYVenezuela, RB: 39.00VEVirgin Islands (U.S.): 0.90VIMiddle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & PakistanAfghanistan: 3.60AFAlgeria: 4.40DZBahrain: 20.60BHDjibouti: 1.20DJEgypt, Arab Rep.: 11.60EGIran, Islamic Rep.: 7.00IRIraq: 1.50IQIsrael: 12.20ILJordan: 5.40JOKuwait: 11.50KWLebanon: 4.70LBLibya: 0.20LYMalta: 8.00MTMorocco: 1.40MAOman: 20.80OMPakistan: 15.20PKQatar: 5.80QASaudi Arabia: 17.00SASyrian Arab Republic: 0.70SYTunisia: 5.20TNUnited Arab Emirates: 16.10AEWest Bank and Gaza: 10.00PSYemen, Rep.: 0.70YENorth AmericaBermuda: 0.00BMCanada: 11.60CAUnited States: 15.80USSouth AsiaBangladesh: 5.90BDBhutan: 51.60BTIndia: 4.50INMaldives: 0.10MVNepal: 23.60NPSri Lanka: 3.70LKSub-Saharan AfricaAngola: 7.70AOBenin: 28.80BJBotswana: 27.60BWBurkina Faso: 16.80BFBurundi: 7.60BICabo Verde: 0.20CVCameroon: 11.00CMCentral African Republic: 14.80CFChad: 21.00TDComoros: 0.70KMCongo, Dem. Rep.: 14.90CDCongo, Rep.: 34.20CGCote d'Ivoire: 14.90CIEquatorial Guinea: 1.80GQEritrea: 0.00EREswatini: 4.20SZEthiopia: 17.00ETGabon: 24.40GAGambia, The: 2.90GMGhana: 7.90GHGuinea: 29.60GNGuinea-Bissau: 13.20GWKenya: 11.80KELesotho: 23.40LSLiberia: 1.20LRMadagascar: 5.10MGMalawi: 23.10MWMali: 7.50MLMauritania: 1.00MRMauritius: 0.00MUMozambique: 18.00MZNamibia: 24.40NANiger: 21.00NENigeria: 11.60NGRwanda: 9.10RWSao Tome and Principe: 0.20STSenegal: 16.60SNSeychelles: 32.60SCSierra Leone: 5.10SLSomalia, Fed. Rep.: 0.00SOSouth Africa: 12.90ZASouth Sudan: 15.40SSSudan: 3.30SDTanzania: 32.30TZTogo: 22.10TGUganda: 16.10UGZambia: 41.30ZMZimbabwe: 28.30ZW

Lighter = lower value · Darker = higher value. Hover a cell to see the country and value.

Highest Values — 2025

# Country Terrestrial and marine protected areas (% of total territorial area)
1 Monaco Europe & Central Asia 99.50
2 Palau East Asia & Pacific 98.00
3 New Caledonia East Asia & Pacific 96.00
4 St. Martin (French part) Latin America & Caribbean 92.30
5 French Polynesia East Asia & Pacific 87.30
6 Bhutan South Asia 51.60
7 Liechtenstein Europe & Central Asia 44.80
8 United Kingdom Europe & Central Asia 42.10
9 Hong Kong SAR, China East Asia & Pacific 42.00
10 Zambia Sub-Saharan Africa 41.30

Looking for a specific country? Only the top and bottom 10 appear here. See where every country ranks for Terrestrial and marine protected areas (% of total territorial area).

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Biggest Movers — Year over Year

Largest increases

Largest decreases

By Income Group — Average

Income group Countries Mean
High income 83 21.24
Upper middle income 53 10.75
Lower middle income 50 13.03
Low income 25 9.78
Not classified 2 28.00

By Region — Average

Region Countries Mean
East Asia & Pacific 36 16.73
Europe & Central Asia 55 21.31
Latin America & Caribbean 42 12.46
Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan 23 8.03
North America 3 9.13
South Asia 6 14.90
Sub-Saharan Africa 48 14.26

Lowest Values — 2025

# Country Terrestrial and marine protected areas (% of total territorial area)
1 Micronesia, Fed. Sts. 0.00
2 Somalia, Fed. Rep. 0.00
3 British Virgin Islands 0.00
4 Bermuda 0.00
5 Tuvalu 0.00
6 Nauru 0.00
7 Guam 0.00
8 Mauritius 0.00
9 Faroe Islands 0.00
10 Eritrea 0.00
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Source: World Bank Open Data (ER.PTD.TOTL.ZS), CC BY 4.0. Rankings show countries with available data for 2025.