plate 066 · 2024 data

Canada's 2023 fires burned more than twice the old record

Forest area burned in Canada each year, million hectares, 1990–2024.

A planet under pressure
  1. 1. Heat that bleaches coral reached 84% of the world's reefs
  2. 2. Swiss glaciers lost over 5% of their ice in 2026
  3. 3. Canada's 2023 fires burned more than twice the old record
  4. 4. Tropical forests lost a record 6.7 million hectares in 2024
  5. 5. Drought cut Panama Canal transits by a fifth in 2024
  6. 6. China adds more forest each year than any other country
  7. 7. Kyoto's cherry blossoms now peak earliest in 1,200 years
  8. 8. Brazil's Amazon lost the least forest on record
  9. 9. Three in four Bangkok residents now live on a floodplain
17.6 Mha

Fires burned 17.6 million hectares of Canada in 2023, an area larger than Tunisia.

2.4×

That is 2.4 times the previous record of 7.5 million hectares, set in 1995.

8.9 Mha

2025 burned roughly 8.9 million hectares, the second-worst year on record.

Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada, Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators: Forest management and disturbances (Dec 2025), from the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers' National Forestry Database, 2024
the numbers & method
Canada's 2023 fires burned more than twice the old record. Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada, Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators: Forest management and disturbances (Dec 2025), from the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers' National Forestry Database, 2024.
YearCanada (Mha)
19901.0
19911.6
19920.9
19932.0
19946.2
19957.5
19961.9
19970.6
19984.8
19991.8
20000.6
20010.7
20022.8
20032.2
20043.2
20051.7
20062.1
20071.8
20081.7
20090.8
20103.2
20112.4
20121.8
20134.3
20144.6
20153.9
20161.3
20173.6
20182.3
20191.8
20200.2
20214.1
20221.6
202317.6
20245.4

Claim types Fact · Interpretation

Values converted from km² (1 km² = 100 ha). Ratio 17.6/7.48 is derived. CIFFC's operational count for 2023 is slightly lower (17,203,625 ha) and names 1989 (7.6 Mha) as the prior record; either way 2023 is more than double. The 2025 figure (~8.9 Mha) is from ECCC's 'Canada's top 10 weather stories of 2025' and is not on the chart, as the National Forestry Database has not yet published 2025. Tunisia's total area is about 16.4 million ha (163,610 km²) (interpretation aid).

Published 3 Nov 2026

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