China vs United States of America: Land cover and land cover change — Gain of artificial surfaces

China
114,666 Square kilometres
in 2022
United States of America
50,835 Square kilometres
in 2022
China rank
2nd
United States of America rank
3rd

Land cover and land cover change — Gain of artificial surfaces over time

  • China
  • United States of America
20.0k40.0k60.0k80.0k100.0k120.0k200520132022

How they compare

China currently reports 114,666 Square kilometres against 50,835 Square kilometres in United States of America, a difference of 63,831 Square kilometres.

That makes China's figure about 2.3 times United States of America's.

Across all 5 years both countries report, China has been ahead every year.

China ranks 2nd and United States of America ranks 3rd of 164 countries.

China has averaged higher in every one of the 3 decades both report.

Head to head by decade

Decade China United States of America Difference Ahead
2000s 26,034 Square kilometres 15,406 Square kilometres 10,628 Square kilometres China
2010s 65,590 Square kilometres 34,459 Square kilometres 31,130 Square kilometres China
2020s 108,176 Square kilometres 49,037 Square kilometres 59,139 Square kilometres China

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher land cover and land cover change — gain of artificial surfaces, China or United States of America?
China, at 114,666 Square kilometres against 50,835 Square kilometres in United States of America as of 2022.
What is the difference in land cover and land cover change — gain of artificial surfaces between China and United States of America?
63,831 Square kilometres, with China ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for China and United States of America?
5 years are reported by both, from 2005 to 2022.
How do China and United States of America rank globally for land cover and land cover change — gain of artificial surfaces?
China ranks 2nd and United States of America ranks 3rd of 164 countries.
Where does this data come from?
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, published as Land cover and land cover change — Gain of artificial surfaces. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

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China vs United States of America: Land cover and land cover change — Gain of artificial surfaces. Statizoid, drawing on Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Retrieved 12 September 2026, from https://environment.statizoid.com/compare/land-cover-and-land-cover-change-gain-of-artificial-surfaces/china/united-states/

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About this data

Indicator
Land cover and land cover change — Gain of artificial surfaces
Unit
Square kilometres
Source
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Licence
OECD Terms and Conditions (attribution required)
Coverage
978 places, 4,890 data points, 2005–2022
Last refreshed

The land cover dataset provides a global assessment of land cover and land cover change to monitor pressures on ecosystems and biodiversity. By using geospatial data with high spatio-temporal resolution, it develops a set of internationally comparable indicators with a long time series and a five-year interval from 2000 to 2022 for the Climate Change Initiative Land Cover dataset, and from 1975 to 2030 for the Global Human Settlement Layer dataset. Please see the working paper for a more complete description of the methods. The dataset has a global coverage on the national level, while on the sub-national TL2 level (i.e. large subnational regions) results are reported for all OECD countries as well as for Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and South Africa. The following country aggregates are included: Euro area, European Union, Advanced economies, Emerging market economies, G7, G20, OECD, OECD Europe, OECD Asia Oceania, OECD Americas, the LAC region and the World. Data source(s): Climate Change Initiative land cover data and Global Human Settlement Layer built-up area data. Contact: ENV.Stat@oecd.org Database documentation