Annual Change in Forest Area Mapped

The world has a total forest area of 4.06 billion ha (31%) of the land globally. This area equals 0.52 ha per person, but forests are not spread equally geographically and among the planet’s people. The tropical zone has the most significant proportion of the global forests (45%), accompanied by the boreal, temperate and subtropical zones. More than half (54%) of the global forests have in only 5 nations–Russia, Brazil, Canada, the U.S., and China.

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The countries’ borders that are visible from space

At first glance, it might seem that human activity is relatively insignificant compared to high mountain ranges and vast oceans when viewing the globe from space. But if you look closely, human activity has become so all-encompassing that it can be seen on any continent on Earth. The most exciting fact is that even political borders can be discerned from space, as each country has its specific land-use features.

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Earth’s surface visualized

The Total Surface Area of our planet is about 509.6 million km² or 197 million mi². The land occupies only 29% of the Earth’s Surface (148.3 million km2 or 57.3 million mi²). The largest countries by surface area are Russia (3.35%), Canada (1.96%), China (1.88%), United States (1.87%), Brazil (1.67%), and Australia (1.51%). Together they occupy approximately 12.24% of the planet’s surface. 70% of the Earth’s total surface is covered with water (361. 7 million km² or 139. 7 million mi²).

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