Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in South America
South America: Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area was 4,119 1000 ha in 2022. ▲ Rising
Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in South America, 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 America is 4,119 1000 ha, measured in 2022. That is the highest value across all 31 years on record.
The figure is up 4.2% on the previous year and up 26.6% over ten years.
Over the whole period, artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in South America peaked at 4,119 1000 ha in 2022 and was at its lowest, 1,946 1000 ha, in 1992.
That places South America 11th out of 26 groups with data for 2022, putting it in the middle of the range.
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 America, year by year
| Year | 1000 ha | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 1,946 1000 ha | — |
| 1993 | 2,001 1000 ha | +2.8% |
| 1994 | 2,051 1000 ha | +2.5% |
| 1995 | 2,103 1000 ha | +2.6% |
| 1996 | 2,156 1000 ha | +2.5% |
| 1997 | 2,207 1000 ha | +2.3% |
| 1998 | 2,260 1000 ha | +2.4% |
| 1999 | 2,313 1000 ha | +2.4% |
| 2000 | 2,371 1000 ha | +2.5% |
| 2001 | 2,469 1000 ha | +4.2% |
| 2002 | 2,549 1000 ha | +3.2% |
| 2003 | 2,602 1000 ha | +2.1% |
| 2004 | 2,690 1000 ha | +3.4% |
| 2005 | 2,765 1000 ha | +2.8% |
| 2006 | 2,847 1000 ha | +3.0% |
| 2007 | 2,920 1000 ha | +2.5% |
| 2008 | 2,980 1000 ha | +2.1% |
| 2009 | 3,042 1000 ha | +2.1% |
| 2010 | 3,105 1000 ha | +2.1% |
| 2011 | 3,170 1000 ha | +2.1% |
| 2012 | 3,252 1000 ha | +2.6% |
| 2013 | 3,409 1000 ha | +4.8% |
| 2014 | 3,517 1000 ha | +3.2% |
| 2015 | 3,565 1000 ha | +1.4% |
| 2016 | 3,567 1000 ha | +0.0% |
| 2017 | 3,675 1000 ha | +3.0% |
| 2018 | 3,723 1000 ha | +1.3% |
| 2019 | 3,834 1000 ha | +3.0% |
| 2020 | 3,834 1000 ha | +0.0% |
| 2021 | 3,954 1000 ha | +3.1% |
| 2022 | 4,119 1000 ha | +4.2% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 2,130 1000 ha | 1,946 1000 ha | 2,313 1000 ha | 8 |
| 2000s | 2,723 1000 ha | 2,371 1000 ha | 3,042 1000 ha | 10 |
| 2010s | 3,482 1000 ha | 3,105 1000 ha | 3,834 1000 ha | 10 |
| 2020s | 3,969 1000 ha | 3,834 1000 ha | 4,119 1000 ha | 3 |
Countries ranked near South America
More environment data for South America
- Historical exposure to drought — Cropland soil moisture anomaly -6.52 Percentage change (2025)
- Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly -4.98 Percentage change (2025)
- Temperature change 1.23 °C (2025)
- Standard Deviation 0.218 °C (2025)
- Standard Deviation, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Total fibre furnish — Production, annual growth rate 4.24 % change on previous year (2024)
- Other paper and paperboard — Import value, annual growth rate 7.63 % change on previous year (2024)
- Graphic papers — Import quantity, annual growth rate 8.6 % change on previous year (2024)
- Graphic papers — Import value, annual growth rate -5.4 % change on previous year (2024)
- Newsprint — Import quantity, gaps filled 107,789 t (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in South America?
- Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in South America was 4,119 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 America?
- The highest recorded value was 4,119 1000 ha in 2022.
- What is the lowest artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area recorded in South America?
- The lowest recorded value was 1,946 1000 ha in 1992.
- How does South America rank for artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area?
- South America ranks 11th out of 26 groups with data for 2022.
- Is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area rising or falling in South America?
- Over the last ten years it is up 26.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this South America 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.