Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in Southern Africa
Southern Africa: Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area was 935.93 1000 ha in 2022. ▲ Rising
Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in Southern 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 Southern Africa is 935.93 1000 ha, measured in 2022. That is the highest value across all 31 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 1.7% on the previous year and up 64.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Southern Africa peaked at 935.93 1000 ha in 2022 and was at its lowest, 308.44 1000 ha, in 1992.
Southern Africa ranks 22nd of 26 groups on this measure, in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 31 years of available data.
Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in Southern Africa, year by year
| Year | 1000 ha | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 308.44 1000 ha | — |
| 1993 | 317.06 1000 ha | +2.8% |
| 1994 | 325.17 1000 ha | +2.6% |
| 1995 | 334 1000 ha | +2.7% |
| 1996 | 342.94 1000 ha | +2.7% |
| 1997 | 351.28 1000 ha | +2.4% |
| 1998 | 359.76 1000 ha | +2.4% |
| 1999 | 367.3 1000 ha | +2.1% |
| 2000 | 376.25 1000 ha | +2.4% |
| 2001 | 400.24 1000 ha | +6.4% |
| 2002 | 421.54 1000 ha | +5.3% |
| 2003 | 439.9 1000 ha | +4.4% |
| 2004 | 450.58 1000 ha | +2.4% |
| 2005 | 470.59 1000 ha | +4.4% |
| 2006 | 486.88 1000 ha | +3.5% |
| 2007 | 503.91 1000 ha | +3.5% |
| 2008 | 518.07 1000 ha | +2.8% |
| 2009 | 531.55 1000 ha | +2.6% |
| 2010 | 543 1000 ha | +2.2% |
| 2011 | 554.27 1000 ha | +2.1% |
| 2012 | 569.21 1000 ha | +2.7% |
| 2013 | 611.93 1000 ha | +7.5% |
| 2014 | 635 1000 ha | +3.8% |
| 2015 | 646.59 1000 ha | +1.8% |
| 2016 | 669.04 1000 ha | +3.5% |
| 2017 | 717.21 1000 ha | +7.2% |
| 2018 | 736.92 1000 ha | +2.7% |
| 2019 | 793.8 1000 ha | +7.7% |
| 2020 | 891.43 1000 ha | +12.3% |
| 2021 | 920.48 1000 ha | +3.3% |
| 2022 | 935.93 1000 ha | +1.7% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 338.24 1000 ha | 308.44 1000 ha | 367.3 1000 ha | 8 |
| 2000s | 459.95 1000 ha | 376.25 1000 ha | 531.55 1000 ha | 10 |
| 2010s | 647.7 1000 ha | 543 1000 ha | 793.8 1000 ha | 10 |
| 2020s | 915.95 1000 ha | 891.43 1000 ha | 935.93 1000 ha | 3 |
Countries ranked near Southern Africa
More environment data for Southern Africa
- Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly 4.17 Percentage change (2025)
- Standard Deviation, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Historical exposure to drought — Cropland soil moisture anomaly 7.61 Percentage change (2025)
- Temperature change 0.892 °C (2025)
- Standard Deviation 0.282 °C (2025)
- Wood fuel, coniferous — Production 770,000 m3 (2024)
- Industrial roundwood — Export quantity 427,327 m3 (2024)
- Industrial roundwood — Import value 35,013 1000 USD (2024)
- Industrial roundwood — Import quantity 161,260 m3 (2024)
- Industrial roundwood — Production 17.26 million m3 (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Southern Africa?
- Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Southern Africa was 935.93 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 Southern Africa?
- The highest recorded value was 935.93 1000 ha in 2022.
- What is the lowest artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area recorded in Southern Africa?
- The lowest recorded value was 308.44 1000 ha in 1992.
- How does Southern Africa rank for artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area?
- Southern Africa ranks 22nd out of 26 groups with data for 2022.
- Is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area rising or falling in Southern Africa?
- Over the last ten years it is up 64.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Southern 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.