Population below five meters above sea level — all countries

Population below five meters above sea level — Melanesia

Population below five meters above sea level in Melanesia in 2015 — 9.22%. Since 1990, the indicator has fallen by 2.87 pp.

2015 9.22% −1.81 pp vs 2000
World rank
Period maximum 12.09%1990
Period minimum 9.22%2015

Trend over time

1990–2015 · % of population

Population below five meters above sea level — Melanesia, 1990–20159101112131990199319961999200220052008201120141990: 12.09%2000: 11.04%2015: 9.22%
Change over the period: −2.87 pp Annual average: -0.11 pp

Comparison, 2015

How the value compares with the world and the groups this territory belongs to: Melanesia

Melanesia 9.22%
World 4.06%
Population below five meters above sea level — Melanesia, by year Melanesia All countries CSV XLSX
Year % Change, pp
2015 9.22
2000 11.04
1990 12.09

About the indicator

The share of the population living less than five meters above sea level. The threshold is not arbitrary: this is the zone already threatened by storm surges and, over the coming century, by sea level rise. In absolute numbers the densely populated deltas of Asia come first; by share, island states and the Netherlands — and the latter show that a high share does not equal high risk, since everything depends on whether coastal defenses are in place.

Important: The series is not annual: the World Bank computes it from a digital elevation model for individual benchmark years, the latest of which is 2015, and has not updated it since. No one has fresher data of this kind; the values are best read as an order-of-magnitude estimate.

Source: World Development Indicators (World Bank), license CC BY 4.0.