COVID-19 IMPACT
We have received many inquiries about the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on each country’s Ecological Footprint and Overshoot Day. It is too challenging to tell with a reasonable degree of confidence as events are still unfolding rather unpredictably and data on these significant changes are still being collected. For more information on how to “now-cast” countries’ Ecological Footprints to the present, see the box on the right.
A country’s overshoot day is the date on which Earth Overshoot Day would fall if all of humanity consumed like the people in this country.
We determine the country overshoot days in 2022 using the 2022 edition of the National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts, which features Ecological Footprint and biocapacity data from 1961 to the latest data-year of 2018. Typically, there is a three to four-year lag between the latest data-year and the present due to the UN’s reporting process.
Let’s take Switzerland’s 2022 overshoot day, for example, using the 2022 edition (with data for 2018):
- The Ecological Footprint for Switzerland is 4.35 gha per person (in 2018)
- Global biocapacity is 1.6 gha per person (in 2018)
Therefore, it would take (4.35/ 1.6) = 2.75 Earths if everyone lived like the Swiss,
OR
we can determine Switzerland’s overshoot day as 365 * (1.6/4.35) = 133rd day in the year. The 133rd day of 2022 is the 13th of May, Switzerland’s Overshoot Day.
Not all countries will have an overshoot day. By way of the country overshoot equation above, a country will only have an overshoot day if their Ecological Footprint per person is greater than global biocapacity per person (1.6 gha). Countries whose Ecological Footprint per person are less than global biocapacity per person (1.6 gha) and do not have an overshoot day are listed as “none” in our list below. In leap years, we compare the date against 366 days of the year, rather than the usual 365.
Now-Casting Country Footprints
Estimating today’s Ecological Footprint of a country, which is called “now-casting,” can be useful for policy analysts and decision-makers. This is done by integrating the more recent UN data and applying updated data points from other sources. Now-casts can provide a business-as-usual estimate based on a combination of historic trends and recent data, but are not biophysical accounts based on reported data, and therefore must be treated with the same caution as a forecasting model. We undertake projects for which this approach is appropriate through partnerships, as we did for WWF France in 2018. Please reach out to us if you are interested in commissioning such an analysis. Typically, the assessment takes a few weeks.
Click table header to sort
| Country | Overshoot Day |
|---|---|
| Afghanistan | none |
| Albania | 11/3/2022 |
| Algeria | 9/4/2022 |
| Angola | none |
| Antigua and Barbuda | 5/5/2022 |
| Argentina | 6/24/2022 |
| Armenia | 10/31/2022 |
| Aruba | 5/11/2022 |
| Australia | 3/23/2022 |
| Austria | 4/6/2022 |
| Azerbaijan | 10/8/2022 |
| Bahamas | 5/15/2022 |
| Bahrain | 3/12/2022 |
| Bangladesh | none |
| Barbados | 5/26/2022 |
| Belarus | 5/12/2022 |
| Belgium | 3/26/2022 |
| Belize | 3/15/2022 |
| Benin | 12/26/2022 |
| Bermuda | 4/21/2022 |
| Bhutan | 4/22/2022 |
| Bolivia | 7/5/2022 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 5/29/2022 |
| Botswana | 9/1/2022 |
| Brazil | 8/12/2022 |
| British Virgin Islands | 9/1/2022 |
| Brunei Darussalam | 4/17/2022 |
| Bulgaria | 6/9/2022 |
| Burkina Faso | none |
| Burundi | none |
| Cabo Verde | 11/11/2022 |
| Cambodia | none |
| Cameroon | none |
| Canada | 3/13/2022 |
| Cayman Islands | 7/9/2022 |
| Central African Republic | none |
| Chad | 12/16/2022 |
| Chile | 5/15/2022 |
| China | 6/2/2022 |
| Colombia | 11/8/2022 |
| Comoros | none |
| Congo | none |
| Congo, Democratic Republic of | none |
| Cook Islands | 3/11/2022 |
| Costa Rica | 8/25/2022 |
| Côte d'Ivoire | none |
| Croatia | 5/29/2022 |
| Cuba | 11/25/2022 |
| Cyprus | 5/31/2022 |
| Czech Republic | 4/12/2022 |
| Denmark | 3/28/2022 |
| Djibouti | 8/25/2022 |
| Dominica | 8/23/2022 |
| Dominican Republic | 11/23/2022 |
| Ecuador | 12/6/2022 |
| Egypt | 11/11/2022 |
| El Salvador | 10/12/2022 |
| Equatorial Guinea | 10/13/2022 |
| Eritrea | none |
| Estonia | 3/14/2022 |
| Eswatini | 8/23/2022 |
| Ethiopia | none |
| Fiji | 8/5/2022 |
| Finland | 3/31/2022 |
| France* | 5/5/2022 |
| French Guiana | 11/4/2022 |
| French Polynesia | 5/25/2022 |
| Gabon | 10/23/2022 |
| Gambia | none |
| Georgia | 9/7/2022 |
| Germany | 5/4/2022 |
| Ghana | 10/16/2022 |
| Greece | 5/21/2022 |
| Grenada | 8/16/2022 |
| Guadeloupe | 6/9/2022 |
| Guatemala | 11/14/2022 |
| Guinea | 11/10/2022 |
| Guinea-Bissau | none |
| Guyana | 6/19/2022 |
| Haiti | none |
| Honduras | none |
| Hungary | 5/30/2022 |
| India | none |
| Indonesia | 12/3/2022 |
| Iran, Islamic Republic of | 6/27/2022 |
| Iraq | 11/24/2022 |
| Ireland | 4/21/2022 |
| Israel | 5/4/2022 |
| Italy | 5/15/2022 |
| Jamaica | 12/20/2022 |
| Japan | 5/6/2022 |
| Jordan | 11/25/2022 |
| Kazakhstan | 4/27/2022 |
| Kenya | none |
| Korea, Democratic People's Republic of | none |
| Korea, Republic of | 4/2/2022 |
| Kuwait | 3/15/2022 |
| Kyrgyzstan | none |
| Lao People's Democratic Republic | 11/10/2022 |
| Latvia | 4/1/2022 |
| Lebanon | 7/14/2022 |
| Lesotho | none |
| Liberia | none |
| Libyan Arab Jamahiriya | 6/26/2022 |
| Lithuania | 4/7/2022 |
| Luxembourg | 2/14/2022 |
| Madagascar | none |
| Malawi | none |
| Malaysia | 5/16/2022 |
| Mali | 12/21/2022 |
| Malta | 4/16/2022 |
| Martinique | 6/15/2022 |
| Mauritania | 8/18/2022 |
| Mauritius | 6/29/2022 |
| Mexico | 8/31/2022 |
| Mongolia | 3/21/2022 |
| Montenegro | 5/17/2022 |
| Montserrat | 5/15/2022 |
| Morocco | 11/26/2022 |
| Mozambique | none |
| Myanmar | 12/15/2022 |
| Namibia | 8/19/2022 |
| Nepal | none |
| Netherlands | 4/12/2022 |
| New Zealand | 4/19/2022 |
| Nicaragua | none |
| Niger | none |
| Nigeria | none |
| Norway | 4/12/2022 |
| Oman | 4/2/2022 |
| Pakistan | none |
| Panama | 7/17/2022 |
| Papua New Guinea | 12/2/2022 |
| Paraguay | 7/8/2022 |
| Peru | 9/3/2022 |
| Philippines | none |
| Poland | 5/2/2022 |
| Portugal | 5/7/2022 |
| Qatar | 2/10/2022 |
| Republic of Moldova | 11/6/2022 |
| Republic of North Macedonia | 7/6/2022 |
| Réunion | 5/6/2022 |
| Romania | 6/11/2022 |
| Russian Federation | 4/19/2022 |
| Rwanda | none |
| Saint Lucia | 9/13/2022 |
| Samoa | 8/6/2022 |
| Sao Tome and Principe | none |
| Saudi Arabia | 4/27/2022 |
| Senegal | none |
| Serbia | 7/8/2022 |
| Sierra Leone | none |
| Singapore | 4/8/2022 |
| Slovakia | 5/3/2022 |
| Slovenia | 4/18/2022 |
| Solomon Islands | 11/23/2022 |
| Somalia | none |
| South Africa | 6/1/2022 |
| South Sudan | 12/25/2022 |
| Spain | 5/12/2022 |
| Sri Lanka | none |
| State of Palestine | none |
| Sudan | none |
| Suriname | 7/8/2022 |
| Sweden | 4/3/2022 |
| Switzerland | 5/13/2022 |
| Syrian Arab Republic | none |
| Tajikistan | none |
| Tanzania, United Republic of | none |
| Thailand | 9/3/2022 |
| Timor-Leste | none |
| Togo | none |
| Tonga | 7/17/2022 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 3/19/2022 |
| Tunisia | 10/13/2022 |
| Turkey | 6/22/2022 |
| Turkmenistan | 4/28/2022 |
| Uganda | none |
| Ukraine | 8/27/2022 |
| United Arab Emirates | 3/13/2022 |
| United Kingdom | 5/19/2022 |
| United States of America | 3/13/2022 |
| Uruguay | none |
| Uzbekistan | 10/11/2022 |
| Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of | 8/30/2022 |
| Viet Nam | 9/12/2022 |
| Yemen | none |
| Zambia | none |
| Zimbabwe | none |