Swiss glaciers lost over 5% of their ice in 2026
Share of total Swiss glacier ice volume lost each year, 2019–2026, GLAMOS measurements.
Swiss glaciers lost 5.5% of their ice volume in 2026, the second-worst year after 2022.
Switzerland's glacier ice shrank by almost a fifth in the five years to 2026.
A yearly loss of 2% was once called extreme. Each of the last five years beat it.
the numbers
| Ice volume lost (%) | |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 2.0 |
| 2020 | 2.0 |
| 2021 | 1.0 |
| 2022 | 6.0 |
| 2023 | 4.0 |
| 2024 | 2.5 |
| 2025 | 3.0 |
| 2026 | 5.5 |
source notes & method
Yearly values as rounded in the official GLAMOS/SCNAT press releases: 2019 'around 2%', 2020 'almost 2%', 2021 'almost 1%', 2022 'more than 6%' (shown as 6%), 2023 4%, 2024 2.5%, 2025 'around 3%'. The 2026 release says 'more than 5%'; the 5.5% figure is GLAMOS's, as reported by Al Jazeera and CGTN (1–2 Oct 2026). 'Almost 20% in five years' is the 2026 release's own statement. The '2% = extreme' benchmark is from the SCNAT 2022 release. Exact values are in the GLAMOS Swisswide mass balance dataset. Corrected 3 Nov 2026: title shortened to 10 words or fewer; no change to the data.
Published 3 Nov 2026
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