🥵 Burkina Faso is the World’s Hottest Country

What We’re Showing

This graphic shows the world’s hottest and coldest countries by their average temperature in 2022. Data is sourced from the World Bank, via Trading Economics.

Key Takeaways

• Burkina Faso’s average annual temperature stands just past 29°C (85ºF), making it the hottest country by this metric
• Its location—tropical, far from the ocean, and south of the Sahara Desert—results in a long dry season and short rainy season. As a result, temperatures soar. Five countries in the top 10 can be found in and around the Sahara Desert
• The world's coldest nations are all in the Northern Hemisphere, with Greenland, Canada, and Russia taking the top spots
• Most of the coldest countries are in the vicinity of the Arctic Circle, but Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan make the list as well. These two nations are extremely mountainous and thus have lower temperatures

See the data tab for temperatures in Fahrenheit.