Which has higher cropland — area, Sub-Saharan Africa or United States?

Sub-Saharan Africa, at 262,866 1000 ha against 154,734 1000 ha in United States as of 2024.

What is the difference in cropland — area between Sub-Saharan Africa and United States?

108,132 1000 ha, with Sub-Saharan Africa ahead.

How many years of comparable data are there for Sub-Saharan Africa and United States?

64 years are reported by both, from 1961 to 2024.

Where does this data come from?

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, published as Cropland — Area. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Sub-Saharan Africa vs United States: Cropland — Area

Sub-Saharan Africa

262,866 1000 ha

in 2024

United States

154,734 1000 ha

in 2024

Sub-Saharan Africa rank

7th

United States rank

4th

Cropland — Area over time

Sub-Saharan Africa
United States

How they compare

Sub-Saharan Africa currently reports 262,866 1000 ha against 154,734 1000 ha in United States, a difference of 108,132 1000 ha.

That makes Sub-Saharan Africa's figure about 1.7 times United States's.

The two have swapped places 1 time across 64 shared years of data; in 1961 it was United States ahead.

Sub-Saharan Africa ranks 7th and United States ranks 4th of 32 groups.

Across the 7 decades both report, Sub-Saharan Africa averaged higher in 3 and United States in 4.

Head to head by decade

Decade	Sub-Saharan Africa	United States	Difference	Ahead
1960s	137,975 1000 ha	181,036 1000 ha	43,061 1000 ha	United States
1970s	147,155 1000 ha	189,270 1000 ha	42,115 1000 ha	United States
1980s	157,264 1000 ha	189,357 1000 ha	32,094 1000 ha	United States
1990s	176,539 1000 ha	183,371 1000 ha	6,831 1000 ha	United States
2000s	200,609 1000 ha	170,163 1000 ha	30,446 1000 ha	Sub-Saharan Africa
2010s	238,194 1000 ha	159,136 1000 ha	79,058 1000 ha	Sub-Saharan Africa
2020s	259,153 1000 ha	155,418 1000 ha	103,734 1000 ha	Sub-Saharan Africa

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher cropland — area, Sub-Saharan Africa or United States?: Sub-Saharan Africa, at 262,866 1000 ha against 154,734 1000 ha in United States as of 2024.
What is the difference in cropland — area between Sub-Saharan Africa and United States?: 108,132 1000 ha, with Sub-Saharan Africa ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Sub-Saharan Africa and United States?: 64 years are reported by both, from 1961 to 2024.
How do Sub-Saharan Africa and United States rank globally for cropland — area?: Sub-Saharan Africa ranks 7th and United States ranks 4th of 32 groups.
Where does this data come from?: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, published as Cropland — Area. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Sub-Saharan Africa vs United States: Cropland — Area. Statizoid, drawing on Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Retrieved 28 September 2026, from https://environment.statizoid.com/compare/cropland-area-2/sub-saharan-africa/united-states/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://environment.statizoid.com/compare/cropland-area-2/sub-saharan-africa/united-states/">Sub-Saharan Africa vs United States: Cropland — Area</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator: Cropland — Area
Unit: 1000 ha
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO)
Coverage: 285 places, 16,764 data points, 1961–2024
Last refreshed: 17 September 2026

The FAOSTAT Land Use domain contains data on twenty-one land use categories and twenty-three categories of irrigation and agricultural practices. Data are available yearly and by country, regional and global levels. The domain includes Land Use Indicators providing information on the percentage share of agricultural and forest land, and their sub-components, including irrigated areas and areas under organic agriculture, within a country land use matrix. Data are available at country, regional and global level, for the following elements: (in percentage) i) Share in Land area; ii) Share in Agricultural land, iii) Share in Cropland; and iv) Share in Forest land; (in ha/pc) v) Area per capita.