DR Congo leads global burned land in 2026

Key points

• DR Congo recorded 13.6 million hectares burned
• Africa accounted for 55% of the global total
• Global burned area reached 112.3 million hectares by August

More than 112 million hectares of land burned worldwide between January 1 and August 1, 2026, with African countries accounting for more than half of the total, according to data from the European Commission's Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS).

The Democratic Republic of the Congo recorded the largest burned area of any country, at 13.61 million hectares, or 12.1% of the global total. Australia ranked second with 11.80 million hectares, followed by Angola with 7.47 million, South Sudan with 6.96 million and the Central African Republic with 6.02 million.

Together, those five countries accounted for more than 40% of all land burned worldwide during the period.

Africa recorded about 61.87 million hectares, representing 55.1% of the global total. Asia followed with 19.73 million hectares, while Oceania recorded 12.06 million. South America, North America and Europe accounted for smaller shares.

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The rest of the global top 10 was made up of Myanmar with 4.33 million hectares, India with 4.03 million, Russia with 3.34 million, Guinea with 3.25 million and Zambia with 3.21 million.

However, the figures do not mean that uncontrolled wildfires destroyed 112.3 million hectares. This is an important distinction when reading the map.

GWIS uses satellite observations to track burned land, and the totals include different types of landscape fires. These can include wildfires, agricultural burning, pasture management and prescribed fires. In parts of sub-Saharan Africa, seasonal burning is commonly used to manage grasslands and farmland.

Australia's second-place ranking should be read in the same way. Its 11.8 million-hectare figure represents total detected burned area, rather than only the destructive bushfires reported in the news.

The figures nevertheless show the enormous scale of global fire activity in 2026. The 112.3 million hectares recorded by August 1 is an area almost the size of South Africa.