Atlas · Democratic Republic of the Congo / Mangrove Change
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Mangrove change since 1996

How much mangrove there is in Democratic Republic of the Congo and across Africa, from Global Mangrove Watch v4.1 maps (1996, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2020, 2025). Areas are recalculated from the map polygons in hectares; the dataset authors’ official annual figures (1985–2025) are shown for comparison.

Mangrove in 2025
19,354 ha
1,575 polygons
Mangrove in 1996
19,698 ha
2,320 polygons
Net change
−344 ha
−1.7% since 1996
Average per year
−12 ha
Net, over the whole period

Mangrove area by year, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Hectares (our calculation, with the dataset authors’ official figure for comparison)

Net change between maps

Hectares gained (+) or lost (−) between consecutive epochs

Every year, 1985–2025

Official annual extent from the Global Mangrove Watch authors

Annual mangrove area, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Hectares, as published with the dataset (all 41 years)

Year by year

YearArea (ha)PolygonsChange vs previous mapOfficial figure (ha)Difference
199619,6982,320 — 19,2552.3%
200019,9461,794 +248 19,4972.3%
200520,3911,337 +445 19,9322.3%
201020,5441,346 +153 20,0822.3%
201520,1401,280 −405 19,6862.3%
202019,6181,520 −521 19,1772.3%
202519,3541,575 −264 18,9182.3%

Previous version (Global Mangrove Watch v3.0)

Kept alongside v4.1 for more data points. Shown separately because the two versions use different methods, so their areas are not mixed in the change figures above.
YearArea (ha)PolygonsOfficial v3 figure (ha)
199619,24245623,800
2007 only in v319,24439423,807
201019,04433923,646
201519,03431823,636
202019,12128423,684
How to read this. These are net changes in total mapped area. Gains and losses can cancel each other out within a country, so real loss is larger than the net figure. The v4.1 official figures are published as a “corrected area” statistic and are about 2.3% lower than the hectares Atlas measures from the polygons, by the same amount in every country, so changes between years are unaffected. Global Mangrove Watch v4 maps are produced at about 30 m for the time series; treat very small year-to-year changes with caution.

All of Africa

Mangrove area in 1996 and 2025, by country
Countries with mangroves
32
In the loaded maps
Mangrove in 2025
2,982,239 ha
Sum of the countries below
Mangrove in 1996
3,018,712 ha
Same countries
Net change
−1.2%
-36,473 ha
CountrySub-region1996 (ha)2025 (ha)Change (ha)Change
NigeriaWestern Africa 843,044810,792 −32,253 −3.8%
MozambiqueEastern Africa 324,693311,268 −13,425 −4.1%
Guinea-BissauWestern Africa 277,700295,115 +17,415 +6.3%
MadagascarEastern Africa 287,462267,501 −19,961 −6.9%
GuineaWestern Africa 237,854223,589 −14,264 −6.0%
CameroonMiddle Africa 223,671207,758 −15,913 −7.1%
GabonMiddle Africa 192,088193,598 +1,510 +0.8%
SenegalWestern Africa 122,084162,077 +39,992 +32.8%
Sierra LeoneWestern Africa 152,505142,077 −10,428 −6.8%
TanzaniaEastern Africa 114,277113,237 −1,040 −0.9%
The GambiaWestern Africa 62,77671,236 +8,459 +13.5%
KenyaEastern Africa 52,35453,174 +820 +1.6%
AngolaMiddle Africa 26,01029,215 +3,205 +12.3%
Equatorial GuineaMiddle Africa 27,93225,052 −2,880 −10.3%
LiberiaWestern Africa 19,94519,355 −590 −3.0%
Democratic Republic of the CongoMiddle Africa 19,69819,354 −344 −1.7%
GhanaWestern Africa 5,9097,966 +2,057 +34.8%
Côte d'IvoireWestern Africa 8,7317,769 −962 −11.0%
EritreaEastern Africa 6,5247,319 +795 +12.2%
SomaliaEastern Africa 3,6193,745 +126 +3.5%
Republic of the CongoMiddle Africa 2,5903,084 +494 +19.1%
South AfricaSouthern Africa 1,8342,072 +238 +13.0%
BeninWestern Africa 2,2311,960 −271 −12.1%
SeychellesEastern Africa 1,5941,691 +97 +6.1%
SudanNorthern Africa 361572 +211 +58.5%
DjiboutiEastern Africa 502548 +46 +9.2%
MauritiusEastern Africa 300445 +145 +48.2%
MauritaniaWestern Africa 38230 +193 +511.7%
EgyptNorthern Africa 166226 +60 +36.3%
ComorosEastern Africa 138123 −15 −10.7%
São Tomé and PrincipeMiddle Africa 6565 −1 −1.4%
TogoWestern Africa 1828 +9 +51.0%
Source: Global Mangrove Watch v4.1.12, CC BY 4.0, doi:10.5281/zenodo.21346456 (method: Bunting et al. 2022). Boundaries: Natural Earth.
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