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International Business Times UK
International Business Times UK
World
Bernadette B. Tixon

Earth's Glaciers Lost Enough Ice to Fill 560 Million Olympic-Sized Swimming Pools in Three Years, UN Warns

Photographers on an expedition in Scoresbysund, Greenland; Glaciers recorded mass loss for the fourth consecutive year in 2025 across every major glaciated region on Earth (Credit: Philip Friedman/WikiMedia Commons)

Between 2023 and 2025, the world's glaciers lost 1,400 gigatonnes of water. Enough, according to the World Meteorological Organization, to fill roughly 560 million Olympic-sized swimming pools, or about one third of annual global freshwater withdrawals. The loss was recorded across just three reporting years.

The figure comes from the World Meteorological Organization's State of Global Water Resources 2025 report, published on 17 September. It is not a spike. It is a streak: 2025 marked the fourth consecutive year in which every major glaciated region on Earth recorded a net loss of ice mass.

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