Country Overshoot Days

COVID-19 UPDATE

We have received many inquiries about the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on each country’s Ecological Footprint and Overshoot Day. It is still too early to tell as data on these significant changes are limited. While we will estimate the date for Earth Overshoot Day 2020, we are sticking for clarity with the country dates as published in the National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts 2019 edition. On how to “now-cast” countries’ Ecological Footprint calculation, check 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.

To calculate this year’s country’s overshoot day, we use the results from the most recent edition of National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts’ available at the time of calculation. By locking in the data at the calculation date, we can provide the date earlier in the calendar year while also maintaining data consistency for all countries, whether their overshoot day lands before or after the upcoming edition of the National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts is available (typically in the spring). Consequently, the dates of countries’ overshoot day dates for 2020 are based on the 2019 edition. The 2019 edition features Ecological Footprint and biocapacity datafrom 1961 to the latest data-year of 2016. Typically, there is a two to four-year data lag between the latest data-year to present due to the UN’s reporting process.

Let’s take Switzerland, for example, using the 2019 edition (with data for 2016):

• The Ecological Footprint for Switzerland is 4.64 gha per person (in 2016)
• Global biocapacity is 1.63 gha per person (in 2016)

Therefore, it would take (4.64/ 1.63) = 2.8 Earths if everyone lived like the Swiss,
OR
we can determine Switzerland’s overshoot day, given that 2020 is a leap year, as 366 * (1.63/4.64) = 129th day in the year. The 129th day of 2020 is the 8th 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 (1.63 gha). Countries whose Ecological Footprint per person are less than global biocapacity per person (1.63 gha) and do not have an overshoot day are therefore not included in our list below. In leap years, we compare the date against 366 days of the year, rather than the usual 365.

All countries are not represented in the infographic. The table below provides a more complete list of country overshoot days:

Dive into your country’s Ecological Footprint and biocapacity data at data.footprintnetwork.org.