Population below five meters above sea level — all countries

Population below five meters above sea level — United States

Population below five meters above sea level in the United States in 2015 — 1.98%. Ranked 85 in the world out of 215. Since 1990, the indicator has fallen by 0.12 pp.

2015 1.98% −0.13 pp vs 2000
World rank 85of 215
Period maximum 2.11%2000
Period minimum 1.98%2015

Trend over time

1990–2015 · % of population

Population below five meters above sea level — United States, 1990–20151.9522.052.12.151990199319961999200220052008201120141990: 2.1%2000: 2.11%2015: 1.98%
Change over the period: −0.12 pp Annual average: 0 pp

Comparison, 2015

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

United States 1.98%
World 4.06%
Northern America computed 1.93%
High-income countries computed 4.19%
Population below five meters above sea level — United States, by year United States All countries CSV XLSX
Year % Change, pp
2015 1.98
2000 2.11
1990 2.1

Northern America, 2015

The same indicator for neighboring countries — with links to their pages

CA Canada 1.44 US United States 1.98 BM Bermuda 7.23

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.