Erosion of the World's Coastlines

The State of the World’s Beaches is a report into how the world's coastline has changed since 1984. The authors of the report analyzed 33 years of satellite imagery, from 1984–2016, to create a global dataset of shoreline change rates. From this analysis it was determined that 24% of the world’s sandy beaches are eroding and 28% are accreting. 48% of sandy coastlines remained stable over the 33 years analysed in the study..

You can view where shorelines are eroding or accreting on the Long-term Shoreline Changes map. This map shows shoreline erosion and accretion rates for the whole world. The lines marked red on the map show where erosion took place over the 33 years and the green areas show where shoreline accretion has occurred. The length of the lines visualize the extent of the erosion or accretion over the 33 years examined in the study.

You can click on the individual lines on the map to view a time series chart. This chart shows the shoreline position for each year available from the satellite analysis. You can read the full State of the World's Beaches on the Nature website.