Coral-ations

• 98,572 — square miles of coral reef in the world ¹
• 97,100 — square miles of the state of Wyoming ²
• 58 — percentage of the world’s reefs that are potentially threatened by human activities ¹
• 34 — percentage of the world’s reefs that are off the shores of Southeast Asia ³
• 88 — percentage of those reefs that are threatened ³
• 8 — percentage of those reefs that are protected ³
• 19,643 — square miles of coral reef in Indonesia ³
• 4,668,487 — number of people in Indonesia deriving their livelihood from fishing in 1996 ⁴
• 86 — percentage of Indonesia’s coral reef at medium or higher risk ³
• 6 — number of countries containing more than half the world’s reefs (Australia, Fiji, Indonesia, the Maldives, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines) ¹
• 90 — percentage of people living within 100 miles of the coast in Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, and the Philippines (world centers of coral diversity) ⁴
• 23,100-270,000 — estimated value, in dollars, of one square kilometer of healthy coral reefs in area with tourism potential ³
• 20,000-151,000 — estimated value, in dollars, of one square kilometer of healthy coral reef in areas without tourism potential ³
• 832,445 — number of pieces of coral exported from Southeast Asia in 1997 ⁴
• 819,118 — number of pieces of coral imported into North America in 1997 ⁴

Sources:
1. Bryant, Dirk, et. al. Reefs at Risk: A Map-based Indicator of Threats to the World’s Coral Reefs.
2. U.S. Census Bureau. State & County QuickFacts.
3. Burke, Lauretta, Elizabeth Selig and Mark Spalding. Reefs at Risk in Southeast Asia, February 2002.
4. EarthTrends: The Environmental Information Portal.

Learn more about the world’s coral reefs.