Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in France
France: Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area was 1,394 1000 ha in 2022. ▲ Rising
Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in France, 1992–2022
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in 1000 ha.
Analysis
France recorded 1,394 1000 ha for artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in 2022. That is the highest value across all 31 years on record.
That represents a change of up 1.1% on the previous year and up 7.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in France peaked at 1,394 1000 ha in 2022 and was at its lowest, 655.79 1000 ha, in 1992.
France ranks 10th of 224 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 31 years of available data.
Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in France, year by year
| Year | 1000 ha | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 655.79 1000 ha | — |
| 1993 | 671.57 1000 ha | +2.4% |
| 1994 | 687.74 1000 ha | +2.4% |
| 1995 | 704.78 1000 ha | +2.5% |
| 1996 | 722.14 1000 ha | +2.5% |
| 1997 | 739.53 1000 ha | +2.4% |
| 1998 | 759.93 1000 ha | +2.8% |
| 1999 | 781 1000 ha | +2.8% |
| 2000 | 802.64 1000 ha | +2.8% |
| 2001 | 879.13 1000 ha | +9.5% |
| 2002 | 965.47 1000 ha | +9.8% |
| 2003 | 1,072 1000 ha | +11.0% |
| 2004 | 1,197 1000 ha | +11.7% |
| 2005 | 1,216 1000 ha | +1.6% |
| 2006 | 1,231 1000 ha | +1.2% |
| 2007 | 1,245 1000 ha | +1.2% |
| 2008 | 1,262 1000 ha | +1.3% |
| 2009 | 1,271 1000 ha | +0.7% |
| 2010 | 1,280 1000 ha | +0.7% |
| 2011 | 1,288 1000 ha | +0.7% |
| 2012 | 1,300 1000 ha | +0.9% |
| 2013 | 1,312 1000 ha | +0.9% |
| 2014 | 1,328 1000 ha | +1.2% |
| 2015 | 1,338 1000 ha | +0.7% |
| 2016 | 1,343 1000 ha | +0.4% |
| 2017 | 1,349 1000 ha | +0.5% |
| 2018 | 1,353 1000 ha | +0.3% |
| 2019 | 1,356 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2020 | 1,356 1000 ha | +0.0% |
| 2021 | 1,379 1000 ha | +1.7% |
| 2022 | 1,394 1000 ha | +1.1% |
France compared with similar countries
- France's 1,394 1000 ha is above the median for high income countries, which is 31.86 1000 ha, 43.7× the median. (73 countries reporting)
- France's 1,394 1000 ha is above the median for Europe & Central Asia, which is 81.12 1000 ha, 17.2× the median. (51 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 715.31 1000 ha | 655.79 1000 ha | 781 1000 ha | 8 |
| 2000s | 1,114 1000 ha | 802.64 1000 ha | 1,271 1000 ha | 10 |
| 2010s | 1,325 1000 ha | 1,280 1000 ha | 1,356 1000 ha | 10 |
| 2020s | 1,376 1000 ha | 1,356 1000 ha | 1,394 1000 ha | 3 |
Countries ranked near France
- 7 Democratic Republic of the Congo 251.93 1000 ha compare
- 7 Japan 1,881 1000 ha compare
- 8 Germany 1,877 1000 ha compare
- 8 Republic of Moldova 161.7 1000 ha compare
- 9 Indonesia 1,396 1000 ha compare
- 9 Syrian Arab Republic 142.99 1000 ha compare
- 10 United Republic of Tanzania 124.91 1000 ha compare
- 11 Bolivia (Plurinational State of) 112.18 1000 ha compare
- 11 Mexico 1,324 1000 ha compare
- 12 Democratic People's Republic of Korea 90.8 1000 ha compare
- 12 Australia and New Zealand 1,173 1000 ha compare
- 13 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 1,044 1000 ha compare
- 13 Melanesia 32.92 1000 ha compare
More environment data for France
- Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly -2.44 Percentage change (2025)
- Historical exposure to drought — Cropland soil moisture anomaly -3.44 Percentage change (2025)
- Standard Deviation, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Standard Deviation 0.427 °C (2025)
- Temperature change 2.31 °C (2025)
- Wood-based panels — Production, annual growth rate -3.66 % change on previous year (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), annual -3.23 % change on previous year (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), per unit 0 Mt CO2e per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), per capita 0 Mt CO2e per person (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture (Mt CO2e), annual growth rate -0.1777 % change on previous year (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in France?
- Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in France was 1,394 1000 ha in 2022, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
- What is the highest artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area recorded in France?
- The highest recorded value was 1,394 1000 ha in 2022.
- What is the lowest artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area recorded in France?
- The lowest recorded value was 655.79 1000 ha in 1992.
- How does France rank for artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area?
- France ranks 10th out of 224 countries with data for 2022.
- Is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area rising or falling in France?
- Over the last ten years it is up 7.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this France data come from?
- The figures come from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, published as part of Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area from CCI_LC. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 31 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO).
About this data
The FAOSTAT domain on Land Cover data under the Agri-Environmental Indicators section contains land cover information organized by the land cover classes of the international standard system for Environmental and Economic Accounting Central Framework (SEEA CF). The land cover information is compiled from publicly available Global Land Cover (GLC) maps: a) MODIS land cover types based on the Land Cover Classification System, LCCS; b) The European Spatial Agency (ESA) Climate Change Initiative (CCI) annual land cover maps produced by the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL)-Geomatics and now under the European Copernicus Program; c) The annual land cover maps which were produced under the European Copernicus Global Land Service (CGLS) (CGLS land cover, containing discrete land cover categorization), with spatial resolution 100m; and d) the WorldCover maps of the European Space Agency, produced at 10m resolution.