NCI 2024
    Groups
    Mammals Birds Amphibians Reptiles Myxini – Hagfishes Petromyz' – Lampreys Sharks & rays Animals Holocep' – Chimaeras Ray-finned fishes Dipneusti – Lungfish Gastropoda – Snails & slugs Coelac' – Coelacanths Insecta – Insects / bugs Arachnida – Spiders & scorpions Malacostraca – Malacostracans Diplopoda – Millipedes Bivalvia – Marine molluscs Cephalopoda – Squids & octopuses Chilopoda – Centipedes Pycnogonida – Sea spiders Merostomata – Horseshoe crabs More Classes
    Filters

    Regions

    See AllSelect

    Habitat

    See AllSelect

    Pristine Habitat (Converted Land)

    This metric is crucial for understanding the scale and impact of human activities on natural landscapes, ecosystems, and biodiversity. This metric recognizes that while the proportion of a country that is protected is important, how each country manages its unprotected land is equally crucial to ensure a sustainable future for its ecosystems. Converted land typically includes areas used for crop cultivation, livestock grazing, urban development, and infrastructure projects. Such transformations often lead to significant ecological changes, including habitat loss, decreased biodiversity, and altered hydrological systems, which can have profound long-term effects on environmental health and sustainability.

    Monitoring the percentage of converted land is essential for environmental planning and conservation efforts. It helps policymakers and conservationists gauge the extent of land-use change and its ecological impacts, guiding decisions on land management, restoration, and conservation priorities. Efforts to balance land conversion with environmental conservation involve implementing sustainable land-use practices, promoting urban planning that minimizes ecological footprints, and rehabilitating degraded lands. By managing and limiting the extent of converted land, societies can work towards more sustainable interactions with their natural environments, ensuring the preservation of biodiversity and the continued provision of ecosystem services.

    The higher the score, the better the country ranks for this parameter.

    The table is sorted from the highest score to the lowest:

    Rank Country Score Change
    1
    Afghanistan    		 100 N/A
    1
    Algeria    		 100 N/A
    1
    Angola    		 100 N/A
    1
    Argentina    		 100 N/A
    1
    Armenia    		 100 N/A
    1
    Australia    		 100 N/A
    1
    Bahamas    		 100 N/A
    1
    Belize    		 100 N/A
    1
    Bhutan    		 100 N/A
    1
    Bolivia    		 100 N/A
    1
    Bosnia and Herz.    		 100 N/A
    1
    Botswana    		 100 N/A
    1
    Brazil    		 100 N/A
    1
    Brunei    		 100 N/A
    1
    Burkina Faso    		 100 N/A
    1
    Cape Verde    		 100 N/A
    1
    Cameroon    		 100 N/A
    1
    Canada    		 100 N/A
    1
    Central Af. Rep.    		 100 N/A
    1
    Chad    		 100 N/A
    1
    Chile    		 100 N/A
    1
    Colombia    		 100 N/A
    1
    Comoros    		 100 N/A
    1
    Costa Rica    		 100 N/A
    1
    DR Congo    		 100 N/A
    1
    Djibouti    		 100 N/A
    1
    Dominica    		 100 N/A
    1
    Dominican Republic    		 100 N/A
    1
    East Timor    		 100 N/A
    1
    Ecuador    		 100 N/A
    1
    Egypt    		 100 N/A
    1
    El Salvador    		 100 N/A
    1
    Equatorial Guinea    		 100 N/A
    1
    Eritrea    		 100 N/A
    1
    Estonia    		 100 N/A
    1
    Eswatini    		 100 N/A
    1
    Ethiopia    		 100 N/A
    1
    Micronesia    		 100 N/A
    1
    Fiji    		 100 N/A
    1
    Finland    		 100 N/A
    1
    Gabon    		 100 N/A
    1
    Georgia    		 100 N/A
    1
    Ghana    		 100 N/A
    1
    Guatemala    		 100 N/A
    1
    Guinea    		 100 N/A
    1
    Guinea-Bissau    		 100 N/A
    1
    Guyana    		 100 N/A
    1
    Haiti    		 100 N/A
    1
    Honduras    		 100 N/A
    1
    Iceland    		 100 N/A
    1
    Indonesia    		 100 N/A
    1
    Iran    		 100 N/A
    1
    Iraq    		 100 N/A
    1
    Ireland    		 100 N/A
    1
    Ivory Coast    		 100 N/A
    1
    Jamaica    		 100 N/A
    1
    Jordan    		 100 N/A
    1
    Kazakhstan    		 100 N/A
    1
    Kenya    		 100 N/A
    1
    Kiribati    		 100 N/A
    1
    Kuwait    		 100 N/A
    1
    Kyrgyztan    		 100 N/A
    1
    Laos    		 100 N/A
    1
    Lesotho    		 100 N/A
    1
    Liberia    		 100 N/A
    1
    Madagascar    		 100 N/A
    1
    Malaysia    		 100 N/A
    1
    Maldives    		 100 N/A
    1
    Mali    		 100 N/A
    1
    Marshall Islands    		 100 N/A
    1
    Mauritania    		 100 N/A
    1
    Mauritius    		 100 N/A
    1
    Mexico    		 100 N/A
    1
    Mongolia    		 100 N/A
    1
    Montenegro    		 100 N/A
    1
    Morocco    		 100 N/A
    1
    Mozambique    		 100 N/A
    1
    Namibia    		 100 N/A
    1
    New Zealand    		 100 N/A
    1
    Nicaragua    		 100 N/A
    1
    Niger    		 100 N/A
    1
    North Macedonia    		 100 N/A
    1
    Norway    		 100 N/A
    1
    Oman    		 100 N/A
    1
    Panama    		 100 N/A
    1
    Papua New Guinea    		 100 N/A
    1
    Paraguay    		 100 N/A
    1
    Peru    		 100 N/A
    1
    Philippines    		 100 N/A
    1
    Qatar    		 100 N/A
    1
    Congo    		 100 N/A
    1
    Russia    		 100 N/A
    1
    Sao Tome and Principe    		 100 N/A
    1
    Saint Lucia    		 100 N/A
    1
    St. Vincent and the Grenadines    		 100 N/A
    1
    Samoa    		 100 N/A
    1
    Saudi Arabia    		 100 N/A
    1
    Senegal    		 100 N/A
    1
    Seychelles    		 100 N/A
    1
    Sierra Leone    		 100 N/A
    1
    Slovenia    		 100 N/A
    1
    Solomon Islands    		 100 N/A
    1
    South Africa    		 100 N/A
    1
    Sudan    		 100 N/A
    1
    Suriname    		 100 N/A
    1
    Sweden    		 100 N/A
    1
    Tajikistan    		 100 N/A
    1
    Tonga    		 100 N/A
    1
    Trinidad and Tobago    		 100 N/A
    1
    Tunisia    		 100 N/A
    1
    Turkmenistan    		 100 N/A
    1
    Tanzania    		 100 N/A
    1
    United Arab Emirates    		 100 N/A
    114
    Uruguay    		 100 N/A
    115
    Uzbekistan    		 100 N/A
    116
    Vanuatu    		 100 N/A
    117
    Venezuela    		 100 N/A
    118
    Zambia    		 100 N/A
    119
    Zimbabwe    		 100 N/A
    120
    Cuba    		 100 N/A
    121
    United States    		 100 N/A
    122
    Latvia    		 100 N/A
    123
    Denmark    		 99 N/A
    124
    Myanmar    		 99 N/A
    125
    Portugal    		 99 N/A
    126
    Switzerland    		 99 N/A
    127
    Albania    		 98 N/A
    128
    Grenada    		 98 N/A
    129
    China    		 97 N/A
    130
    Nepal    		 96 N/A
    131
    Croatia    		 95 N/A
    132
    Malawi    		 93 N/A
    133
    Benin    		 92 N/A
    134
    Pakistan    		 91 N/A
    135
    Togo    		 91 N/A
    136
    Austria    		 90 N/A
    137
    Greece    		 90 N/A
    138
    Vietnam    		 89 N/A
    139
    Antigua and Barbuda    		 88 N/A
    140
    Belarus    		 86 N/A
    141
    Gambia    		 86 N/A
    142
    Japan    		 85 N/A
    143
    Spain    		 85 N/A
    144
    Uganda    		 85 N/A
    145
    Turkey    		 84 N/A
    146
    Azerbaijan    		 82 N/A
    147
    Israel    		 82 N/A
    148
    Lebanon    		 81 N/A
    149
    United Kingdom    		 81 N/A
    150
    Luxembourg    		 80 N/A
    151
    Taiwan    		 80 N/A
    152
    Lithuania    		 79 N/A
    153
    Slovakia    		 79 N/A
    154
    Sri Lanka    		 79 N/A
    155
    Romania    		 78 N/A
    156
    Cambodia    		 77 N/A
    157
    Serbia    		 77 N/A
    158
    Bahrain    		 76 N/A
    159
    Bulgaria    		 76 N/A
    160
    France    		 74 N/A
    161
    Nigeria    		 74 N/A
    162
    South Korea    		 73 N/A
    163 Italy 72 N/A
    164
    Burundi    		 69 N/A
    165
    Czech republic    		 69 N/A
    166
    Cyprus    		 67 N/A
    167
    Poland    		 64 N/A
    168
    Thailand    		 64 N/A
    169
    Netherlands    		 62 N/A
    170
    Germany    		 61 N/A
    171
    India    		 60 N/A
    172
    Hungary    		 54 N/A
    173
    Belgium    		 50 N/A
    174
    Ukraine    		 49 N/A
    175
    Barbados    		 48 N/A
    176
    Moldova    		 45 N/A
    177
    Rwanda    		 36 N/A
    178
    Singapore    		 36 N/A
    179
    Bangladesh    		 33 N/A
    180
    Malta    		 33 N/A

    Source and Calculation

    Layers of built-up and agricultural land are sourced from the Global Land Analysis & Discovery datasets. The percentage of each country’s converted land is calculated as a sum of the agricultural and built-up land in each country divided by its total land area. A maximum score is awarded to a country that has 20% or lower of its terrestrial area converted to agricultural or built-up land. *Different sources offer varying data, as datasets may be subject to changes due to recent updates and revisions.