Agricultural land — Area in Africa

Africa: Agricultural land — Area was 1.19 million 1000 ha in 2024. ▲ Rising

Latest (2024)
1.19 million 1000 ha
Change on year
up 0.1%
Rank
4th
of 36 groups
All-time high
1.19 million 1000 ha
in 2024
All-time low
1.02 million 1000 ha
in 1962
Years of data
64
1961–2024

Agricultural land — Area in Africa, 1961–2024

0250.0k500.0k750.0k1.0M1.2M196119922024

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in 1000 ha.

Analysis

Africa recorded 1.19 million 1000 ha for agricultural land — area in 2024. That is the highest value across all 64 years on record.

That represents a change of up 0.1% on the previous year and up 2.4% over ten years.

Over the whole period, agricultural land — area in Africa peaked at 1.19 million 1000 ha in 2024 and was at its lowest, 1.02 million 1000 ha, in 1962.

That places Africa 4th out of 36 groups with data for 2024, putting it in the top 10%.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 64 years of available data.

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1960s 1.02 million 1000 ha 1.02 million 1000 ha 1.03 million 1000 ha 9
1970s 1.04 million 1000 ha 1.03 million 1000 ha 1.04 million 1000 ha 10
1980s 1.05 million 1000 ha 1.04 million 1000 ha 1.06 million 1000 ha 10
1990s 1.08 million 1000 ha 1.06 million 1000 ha 1.09 million 1000 ha 10
2000s 1.12 million 1000 ha 1.10 million 1000 ha 1.13 million 1000 ha 10
2010s 1.16 million 1000 ha 1.14 million 1000 ha 1.18 million 1000 ha 10
2020s 1.18 million 1000 ha 1.18 million 1000 ha 1.19 million 1000 ha 5

Countries ranked near Africa

  1. 1 OECD 1.16 million 1000 ha compare
  2. 2 USSR 555,420 1000 ha compare
  3. 3 China 392,604 1000 ha compare
  4. 4 China, mainland 391,823 1000 ha compare
  5. 5 Australia and New Zealand 373,213 1000 ha compare
  6. 6 Australia 363,519 1000 ha compare
  7. 7 Brazil 237,091 1000 ha compare

See the full ranking of 273 places →

More environment data for Africa

All data for Africa →

Frequently asked questions

What is agricultural land — area in Africa?
Agricultural land — area in Africa was 1.19 million 1000 ha in 2024, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
What is the highest agricultural land — area recorded in Africa?
The highest recorded value was 1.19 million 1000 ha in 2024.
What is the lowest agricultural land — area recorded in Africa?
The lowest recorded value was 1.02 million 1000 ha in 1962.
How does Africa rank for agricultural land — area?
Africa ranks 4th out of 36 groups with data for 2024.
Is agricultural land — area rising or falling in Africa?
Over the last ten years it is up 2.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Africa data come from?
The figures come from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, published as part of Agricultural land — Area. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 64 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO).

About this data

Indicator
Agricultural land — Area
Unit
1000 ha
Source
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Licence
CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO)
Coverage
273 places, 16,066 data points, 1961–2024
Last refreshed

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.