Annual number of wildfires in Nigeria

Nigeria: Annual number of wildfires was 8,254 wildfires in 2026. ▼ Falling

Latest (2026)
8,254 wildfires
Change on year
down 40.0%
World rank
11th
of 248 countries
All-time high
22,365 wildfires
in 2022
All-time low
8,254 wildfires
in 2026
Years of data
15
2012–2026

Annual number of wildfires in Nigeria, 2012–2026

05.0k10.0k15.0k20.0k2012201920262012: 12.5k wildfires2013: 17.1k wildfires2014: 17.7k wildfires2015: 20.3k wildfires2016: 22.0k wildfires2017: 21.1k wildfires2018: 16.0k wildfires2019: 18.1k wildfires2020: 21.2k wildfires2021: 22.0k wildfires2022: 22.4k wildfires2023: 18.0k wildfires2024: 16.1k wildfires2025: 13.8k wildfires2026: 8.3k wildfires

Source: Global Wildfire Information System (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in wildfires.

Analysis

Nigeria recorded 8,254 wildfires for annual number of wildfires in 2026. That is the lowest value across all 15 years on record.

That represents a change of down 40.0% on the previous year and down 62.5% over ten years.

Over the whole period, annual number of wildfires in Nigeria peaked at 22,365 wildfires in 2022 and was at its lowest, 8,254 wildfires, in 2026.

That places Nigeria 11th out of 248 countries with data for 2026, putting it in the top 10%.

The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 15 years of available data.

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
2010s 18,100 wildfires 12,499 wildfires 21,994 wildfires 8
2020s 17,379 wildfires 8,254 wildfires 22,365 wildfires 7

Countries ranked near Nigeria

  1. 8 Myanmar 11,674 wildfires compare
  2. 9 Guinea 10,104 wildfires compare
  3. 10 Russia 8,555 wildfires compare
  4. 12 Venezuela 7,800 wildfires compare
  5. 13 China 7,468 wildfires compare
  6. 14 Thailand 6,893 wildfires compare

See the full ranking of 248 places →

More reference data data for Nigeria

All data for Nigeria →

Frequently asked questions

What is annual number of wildfires in Nigeria?
Annual number of wildfires in Nigeria was 8,254 wildfires in 2026, according to Global Wildfire Information System (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
What is the highest annual number of wildfires recorded in Nigeria?
The highest recorded value was 22,365 wildfires in 2022.
What is the lowest annual number of wildfires recorded in Nigeria?
The lowest recorded value was 8,254 wildfires in 2026.
How does Nigeria rank for annual number of wildfires?
Nigeria ranks 11th out of 248 countries with data for 2026.
Is annual number of wildfires rising or falling in Nigeria?
Over the last ten years it is down 62.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
Where does this Nigeria data come from?
The figures come from Global Wildfire Information System (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Annual number of wildfires. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 15 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).

About this data

Indicator
Annual number of wildfires
Unit
wildfires
Source
Global Wildfire Information System (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
248 places, 3,720 data points, 2012–2026
Last refreshed

Number of wildfires. The 2026 data is incomplete and was last updated 07 August 2026.