Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in Western Africa
Western Africa: Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area was 1,626 1000 ha in 2022. ▲ Rising
Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in Western 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 Western Africa is 1,626 1000 ha, measured in 2022. That is the highest value across all 31 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 7.6% on the previous year and up 74.0% over ten years.
Over the whole period, artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Western Africa peaked at 1,626 1000 ha in 2022 and was at its lowest, 464.77 1000 ha, in 1992.
That places Western Africa 17th 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 Western Africa, year by year
| Year | 1000 ha | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 464.77 1000 ha | — |
| 1993 | 476.56 1000 ha | +2.5% |
| 1994 | 488.07 1000 ha | +2.4% |
| 1995 | 497.7 1000 ha | +2.0% |
| 1996 | 507.26 1000 ha | +1.9% |
| 1997 | 516.19 1000 ha | +1.8% |
| 1998 | 525.91 1000 ha | +1.9% |
| 1999 | 535.14 1000 ha | +1.8% |
| 2000 | 546.22 1000 ha | +2.1% |
| 2001 | 589.29 1000 ha | +7.9% |
| 2002 | 622.97 1000 ha | +5.7% |
| 2003 | 651.57 1000 ha | +4.6% |
| 2004 | 674.23 1000 ha | +3.5% |
| 2005 | 714.03 1000 ha | +5.9% |
| 2006 | 749.67 1000 ha | +5.0% |
| 2007 | 783.27 1000 ha | +4.5% |
| 2008 | 814.08 1000 ha | +3.9% |
| 2009 | 843.85 1000 ha | +3.7% |
| 2010 | 872.2 1000 ha | +3.4% |
| 2011 | 898.18 1000 ha | +3.0% |
| 2012 | 934.62 1000 ha | +4.1% |
| 2013 | 986.18 1000 ha | +5.5% |
| 2014 | 1,033 1000 ha | +4.7% |
| 2015 | 1,062 1000 ha | +2.9% |
| 2016 | 1,141 1000 ha | +7.4% |
| 2017 | 1,171 1000 ha | +2.7% |
| 2018 | 1,185 1000 ha | +1.1% |
| 2019 | 1,244 1000 ha | +5.0% |
| 2020 | 1,398 1000 ha | +12.4% |
| 2021 | 1,511 1000 ha | +8.1% |
| 2022 | 1,626 1000 ha | +7.6% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 501.45 1000 ha | 464.77 1000 ha | 535.14 1000 ha | 8 |
| 2000s | 698.92 1000 ha | 546.22 1000 ha | 843.85 1000 ha | 10 |
| 2010s | 1,053 1000 ha | 872.2 1000 ha | 1,244 1000 ha | 10 |
| 2020s | 1,512 1000 ha | 1,398 1000 ha | 1,626 1000 ha | 3 |
Countries ranked near Western Africa
More environment data for Western Africa
- Standard Deviation, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly -6.69 Percentage change (2025)
- Historical exposure to drought — Cropland soil moisture anomaly -6.59 Percentage change (2025)
- Temperature change 1.37 °C (2025)
- Standard Deviation 0.311 °C (2025)
- Industrial roundwood — Import value 18,051 1000 USD (2024)
- Wood fuel — Production 221.11 million m3 (2024)
- Wood fuel, coniferous — Production 0 m3 (2024)
- Wood fuel, non-coniferous — Production 221.11 million m3 (2024)
- Industrial roundwood — Production 20.68 million m3 (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Western Africa?
- Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Western Africa was 1,626 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 Western Africa?
- The highest recorded value was 1,626 1000 ha in 2022.
- What is the lowest artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area recorded in Western Africa?
- The lowest recorded value was 464.77 1000 ha in 1992.
- How does Western Africa rank for artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area?
- Western Africa ranks 17th out of 26 groups with data for 2022.
- Is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area rising or falling in Western Africa?
- Over the last ten years it is up 74.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Western 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.