Number of Wildfires by Country 2025
Key Findings
🏆
DR Congo leads in Wildfires with 79,186 in 2025.
📊
Average Wildfires in 2025: 20,437 · median: 12,107.
↔️
Gap in 2025: DR Congo is 12.6× larger than Mexico.
About This Dataset
Number of Wildfires by Country 2025
What this chart shows. The 25 countries with the most wildfires detected by satellite in 2025. DR Congo had 79,186, 12.6 per cent of the world's 626,326, followed by Angola with 62,673 and Australia with 39,281.
How the data is collected. GWIS identifies individual fire events in the satellite data, so one count can cover anything from a small fire to a blaze lasting weeks. Only fires large enough for the MODIS and VIIRS sensors to see are included.
Background. The worldwide number of fire events in 2025 was the lowest since the series began in 2012, 18.8 per cent below the 771,585 of 2024. African countries make up 15 of the 25 on this chart; Russia, 12th with 12,332, is the highest-ranked country in Europe.
Limits. How GWIS separates neighbouring fires changes the count but not the burned area, so the number of fires is less reliable for comparing countries than the area. National fire services, which count reported fires of any size, report very different numbers: the US agency NIFC counted about nine times as many fires in the United States as GWIS.
How the data is collected. GWIS identifies individual fire events in the satellite data, so one count can cover anything from a small fire to a blaze lasting weeks. Only fires large enough for the MODIS and VIIRS sensors to see are included.
Background. The worldwide number of fire events in 2025 was the lowest since the series began in 2012, 18.8 per cent below the 771,585 of 2024. African countries make up 15 of the 25 on this chart; Russia, 12th with 12,332, is the highest-ranked country in Europe.
Limits. How GWIS separates neighbouring fires changes the count but not the burned area, so the number of fires is less reliable for comparing countries than the area. National fire services, which count reported fires of any size, report very different numbers: the US agency NIFC counted about nine times as many fires in the United States as GWIS.
Analysis
Australia had fewer fires than DR Congo or Angola but burned more land than either, because its fires averaged 909 hectares each.
Data Insights
Numbers, trends & sources behind this chart
Methodology & source
- Data source
- Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS) via Our World in Data
- Coverage
- 25 entities · 2025 · 25 observations
- Measure
- Wildfires
- Last updated
- 29 September 2026
- Compiled by
- The ANYSTAT team, from the source above
How the figures are calculated
- Values use the measure and unit named on this page. Consult the dataset description and cited source for coverage, definitions and any unit conversions. Displayed values may be rounded for readability.
- Entities are ranked highest-first on their value in 2025.
An article using this data
Wildfires Burned Less Land in 2025 Than in Any Year Since 2012, but Canada's Fires Released the Most CO2
GWIS satellite data for 2025: wildfires burned 265.4 million hectares worldwide. Australia burned the most land, DR Congo had the most fires and Canada's fires...
Data Sources & References
All external sources cited in this dataset
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