Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in South Africa
South Africa: Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area was 783.83 1000 ha in 2022. ▲ Rising
Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in South Africa, 1992–2022
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in 1000 ha.
Analysis
The most recent figure for artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in South Africa is 783.83 1000 ha, measured in 2022. That is the highest value across all 31 years on record.
The figure is up 1.7% on the previous year and up 62.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in South Africa peaked at 783.83 1000 ha in 2022 and was at its lowest, 256.96 1000 ha, in 1992.
That places South Africa 17th out of 224 countries with data for 2022, putting it 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 South Africa, year by year
| Year | 1000 ha | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 256.96 1000 ha | — |
| 1993 | 264.07 1000 ha | +2.8% |
| 1994 | 270.62 1000 ha | +2.5% |
| 1995 | 277.21 1000 ha | +2.4% |
| 1996 | 283.37 1000 ha | +2.2% |
| 1997 | 288.83 1000 ha | +1.9% |
| 1998 | 294.32 1000 ha | +1.9% |
| 1999 | 299 1000 ha | +1.6% |
| 2000 | 304.74 1000 ha | +1.9% |
| 2001 | 328.14 1000 ha | +7.7% |
| 2002 | 348.94 1000 ha | +6.3% |
| 2003 | 366.86 1000 ha | +5.1% |
| 2004 | 376.94 1000 ha | +2.7% |
| 2005 | 395.11 1000 ha | +4.8% |
| 2006 | 409.91 1000 ha | +3.7% |
| 2007 | 425.53 1000 ha | +3.8% |
| 2008 | 438.04 1000 ha | +2.9% |
| 2009 | 449.87 1000 ha | +2.7% |
| 2010 | 459.94 1000 ha | +2.2% |
| 2011 | 470.02 1000 ha | +2.2% |
| 2012 | 482.91 1000 ha | +2.7% |
| 2013 | 518.57 1000 ha | +7.4% |
| 2014 | 538.14 1000 ha | +3.8% |
| 2015 | 548.18 1000 ha | +1.9% |
| 2016 | 565.44 1000 ha | +3.1% |
| 2017 | 600.58 1000 ha | +6.2% |
| 2018 | 617.71 1000 ha | +2.9% |
| 2019 | 657.78 1000 ha | +6.5% |
| 2020 | 747.04 1000 ha | +13.6% |
| 2021 | 770.66 1000 ha | +3.2% |
| 2022 | 783.83 1000 ha | +1.7% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 279.3 1000 ha | 256.96 1000 ha | 299 1000 ha | 8 |
| 2000s | 384.41 1000 ha | 304.74 1000 ha | 449.87 1000 ha | 10 |
| 2010s | 545.93 1000 ha | 459.94 1000 ha | 657.78 1000 ha | 10 |
| 2020s | 767.18 1000 ha | 747.04 1000 ha | 783.83 1000 ha | 3 |
Countries ranked near South Africa
More environment data for South Africa
- Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly 5.46 Percentage change (2025)
- Historical exposure to drought — Cropland soil moisture anomaly 8.52 Percentage change (2025)
- Standard Deviation, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Standard Deviation 0.275 °C (2025)
- Temperature change 1.05 °C (2025)
- Paper and paperboard — Import quantity, annual growth rate 20.46 % change on previous year (2024)
- Paper and paperboard — Import quantity, per unit of GDP 0 t per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Paper and paperboard — Import quantity, per capita 0.012 t per person (2024)
- Paper and paperboard — Import value, annual growth rate 3.25 % change on previous year (2024)
- Paper and paperboard — Import value, per unit of GDP 0 1000 USD per US$ of GDP (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in South Africa?
- Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in South Africa was 783.83 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 South Africa?
- The highest recorded value was 783.83 1000 ha in 2022.
- What is the lowest artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area recorded in South Africa?
- The lowest recorded value was 256.96 1000 ha in 1992.
- How does South Africa rank for artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area?
- South Africa ranks 17th out of 224 countries with data for 2022.
- Is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area rising or falling in South Africa?
- Over the last ten years it is up 62.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this South Africa 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.