Maps

Since 2015, much of the Nile River basin has been impacted by severe drought, particularly in East Africa. This map shows the Drought Index, which measures the severity of drought in soil moisture. The map is on a color-coded scale between 1 and 100 with low values (color red) indicating conditions of drought. The original map was developed by UNESCO, based out of Princeton University. The Drought Index was calculated by determining the percentile of the daily average of relative soil moisture at each grid cell with respect to its empirical cumulative probability distribution function provided by the historical simulations (1950-2008), according to UNESCO.

Since 1840, in the 11 countries of the Nile Basin, 153 dams have been built or are currently being completed. This map color-codes dams based on three time periods of completion: those completed before 1970, those completed between 1970 and 2017, and those currently being completed.

This Map shows the outline of the boundary of the Nile Basin and the countries it spans indicated in dotted boundary outlines as shown by the map legend. The Nile River, with an estimated length of over 6800 km, is the longest river flowing from south to north over 35 degrees of latitude. The total area of the Nile basin represents 10.3% of the area of the continent and spreads over eleven countries; Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan, and Egypt.