The Ecological Footprint (EF) is one way to assess the impact of human activities on nature. The footprint tells you how much land is needed to meet the needs of a resident in an area. It is calculated on an annual basis per capita and expressed in hectares. The ecological footprint was developed in the 1990s by Professors Mathis Wackernagel and William E. Rees.

You can measure your own ecological footprint with counters on the Internet. They map an individual’s footprint using a [[$ 10-20 $]] part questionnaire that addresses eating habits, water consumption, housing, and transportation use. The ecological footprint is calculated on the basis of how much land, pasture and farmland, as well as forest, sea and built-up land, is needed for an individual's yearly consumption and waste. Everyone can influence their ecological footprint through their personal choices. It can be reduced, for example, by using public transport and avoiding animal products, as well as by favoring products that save energy and last for a long time.

The total area of ​​planet Earth is [[$ 51 $]] billion hectares, of which only [[$ 11, \! 4 $]] billion hectares can be used for the production of goods. When this is shared among all the people on Earth, the largest allowable ecological footprint for a single person becomes [[$ 1, \! 78 $]] hectares. In the World Nature Foundation's Living Planet 2012 report in 2008, the average ecological footprint of the world's inhabitants was estimated at [[$ 2, \! 70 $]] hectares per person. However, there are significant differences between continents: Africans have an ecological footprint of [[$ 1, \! 45 $]] hectares, whereas inhabitants of EU countries have an ecological footprint of [[$ 4, \! 72 $]] hectares and North Americans have one of [[$ 7,\! 12 $]] hectares! Fortunately, not all the people of the world are European, because then it would take about two and a half planet Earths to meet the consumption needs of all the people in the world.

The table below displays the ecological footprints of some nations in 2008 (Source: WWF Living Planet 2012 report)

nation	population (million)	ecological footprint (per capita) [ha]	capacity (per capita) [ha]
Finland	5,3	6,21	12,19
USA	305,0	7,19	3,86
Australia	21,5	6,68	14,57
United Kingdom	61,5	4,71	1,34
Canada	33,3	6,43	14,92
Qatar	1,4	11,68	2,05
India	1190,0	0,87	0,48
China	1358,8	2,13	0,87