List of countries by ecological footprint

World map of countries by ecological deficit (2013).svg) minus its ecological footprint per person (also in global hectares). Data from 2013.

This is a list of countries by ecological footprint. The table is based on data spanning from 1961 to 2013 from the Global Footprint Network's National Footprint Accounts published in 2016. Numbers are given in global hectares per capita. The world-average ecological footprint in 2016 was 2.75 global hectares per person (22.6 billion in total). With a world-average biocapacity of 1.63 global hectares (gha) per person (12.2 billion in total), this leads to a global ecological deficit of 1.1 global hectares per person (10.4 billion in total).

For humanity, having a footprint smaller than the planet's biocapacity is a necessary condition for sustainability. After all, ecological overuse is only possible temporarily. A country that consumes more than 1.73 gha per person has a resource demand that is not sustainable world-wide if every country were to exceed that consumption level simultaneously. Countries with a footprint below 1.73 gha per person might not be sustainable: the quality of the footprint may still lead to net long-term ecological destruction. If a country does not have enough ecological resources within its own territory to cover its population's footprint, then it runs an ecological deficit and the country is termed an ecological debtor. Otherwise, it has an ecological reserve and it is called a creditor. To a significant degree, biocapacity correlates with access to water resources.

Countries and regions
'' This table below is based on 2012 results (National Footprint Accounts edition 2016). The latest edition (2021), produced by York University, Footprint Data Foundation, and Global Footprint Network, is available on Global Footprint Network's website at http://data.footprintnetwork.org. Note that this list contains only 188 countries, covering most of the countries with more than one million inhabitants.''

* Assumes that biocapacity and ecological footprint per person will not change when population changes.