Australia vs United Kingdom: Share of marine territorial waters that are protected

Australia

45.4%

in 2025

United Kingdom

46.8%

in 2025

Australia rank

9th

United Kingdom rank

8th

Share of marine territorial waters that are protected over time

Australia
United Kingdom

How they compare

United Kingdom currently reports 46.8% against 45.4% in Australia, a difference of 1.4%.

The two have swapped places 3 times across 13 shared years of data; in 2013 it was Australia ahead.

Australia ranks 9th and United Kingdom ranks 8th of 174 countries.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator: Share of marine territorial waters that are protected
Unit: % of territorial waters
Source: Protected Planet WDPA and WD-OECM data, UNEP-WCMC and IUCN, via World Bank (2026) – processed by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 174 places, 2,223 data points, 2013–2025
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026

Marine protected areas are regions of intertidal or sub-tidal land and associated water, flora and fauna, and cultural and historical features that have been legally or effectively reserved for protection.