Wildfires burned 265.4 million hectares worldwide in 2025, according to satellite data from the Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS), the smallest area in any year since its series began in 2012 and 24.3 per cent less than in 2024. Five new charts show where the land burned, how many fires there were and how much CO2 they released.
Australia and Africa burned the most land
Australia led the area burned chart with 35.69 million hectares, ahead of DR Congo with 30.91 million and Angola with 24.91 million. Africa as a whole accounted for 59.1 per cent of the world's burned area. Relative to their size, African countries dominate: in South Sudan the burned area equalled 23.12 per cent of the country's land, the highest in the share of land burned chart, against 4.61 per cent in Australia.
Many small fires or a few huge ones
DR Congo had the most fire events, 79,186 of the world's 626,326, in the number of wildfires chart. Canada had only 5,836, but among countries with at least 1,000 fires they were the largest on average, 1,262 hectares each in the average wildfire size chart, ahead of Australia's 909.
Canada's fires released the most CO2
The wildfire CO2 chart ranks countries by what burned, not only by how much. Canada accounted for 2.8 per cent of the world's burned area but 16.0 per cent of wildfire CO2, 741.2 million tonnes, well ahead of DR Congo with 403.3 million and Australia with 402.9 million. Worldwide, fires released 4,620 million tonnes of CO2, the lowest in GWIS's emissions series, which starts in 2003.
| Chart | Top | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Area Burned by Wildfires by Country 2025 | Australia | 35.69 million ha |
| Share of Land Burned by Wildfires by Country 2025 | South Sudan | 23.12% |
| Number of Wildfires by Country 2025 | DR Congo | 79,186 fires |
| CO2 Emissions From Wildfires by Country 2025 | Canada | 741.2 million t |
| Average Wildfire Size by Country 2025 | Canada | 1,262 ha |
How far to trust satellite counts
Satellites see every country the same way, which makes them good for comparisons, but they miss small fires and differ from national figures. For the United States, GWIS counts 3.23 million hectares, more than the 2.08 million in the National Interagency Fire Center's report; for Canada it counts 7.37 million, less than the roughly 8.92 million Canadian agencies had reported by mid-September. GWIS's separate land-cover product agrees that 2025 burned less than 2024: 332.9 million hectares against 365.7 million. For the state-by-state picture in the US, see which US state had the most wildfires in 2025.