Population below five meters above sea level — all countries

Population below five meters above sea level — Southern Africa

Population below five meters above sea level in Southern Africa in 2015 — 0.18%. Since 1990, the indicator has risen by 0.02 pp.

2015 0.18% +0.01 pp vs 2000
World rank
Period maximum 0.18%2015
Period minimum 0.17%1990

Trend over time

1990–2015 · % of population

Population below five meters above sea level — Southern Africa, 1990–20150.170.170.180.180.191990199319961999200220052008201120141990: 0.17%2000: 0.17%2015: 0.18%
Change over the period: +0.02 pp Annual average: 0 pp

Comparison, 2015

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

Southern Africa 0.18%
World 4.06%
Population below five meters above sea level — Southern Africa, by year Southern Africa All countries CSV XLSX
Year % Change, pp
2015 0.18
2000 0.17
1990 0.17

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.