Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in South Africa

South Africa: Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area was 1,082 1000 ha in 2019. ▬ Flat

Latest (2019)
1,082 1000 ha
Change on year
up 0.6%
World rank
21st
of 197 countries
All-time high
1,082 1000 ha
in 2019
All-time low
1,069 1000 ha
in 2015
Years of data
5
2015–2019

Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in South Africa, 2015–2019

02505007501.0k2015201720192015: 1.1k 1000 ha2016: 1.1k 1000 ha2017: 1.1k 1000 ha2018: 1.1k 1000 ha2019: 1.1k 1000 ha

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in 1000 ha.

Analysis

South Africa recorded 1,082 1000 ha for artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in 2019. That is the highest value across all 5 years on record.

Compared with earlier readings it is up 0.6% on the previous year and up 1.3% over five years.

That places South Africa 21st out of 197 countries with data for 2019, putting it in the top quarter.

Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in South Africa, year by year

Annual values for Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area from CGLS in South Africa, 2015 to 2019.
Year 1000 ha Change
2015 1,069 1000 ha
2016 1,071 1000 ha +0.2%
2017 1,073 1000 ha +0.1%
2018 1,076 1000 ha +0.3%
2019 1,082 1000 ha +0.6%

Countries ranked near South Africa

  1. 18 Poland 1,387 1000 ha compare
  2. 19 Spain 1,279 1000 ha compare
  3. 20 Australia 1,237 1000 ha compare
  4. 22 Pakistan 930.49 1000 ha compare
  5. 23 Argentina 877.16 1000 ha compare
  6. 24 Uzbekistan 862.04 1000 ha compare

See the full ranking of 241 places →

More environment data for South Africa

All data for South Africa →

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 1,082 1000 ha in 2019, 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 1,082 1000 ha in 2019.
What is the lowest artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area recorded in South Africa?
The lowest recorded value was 1,069 1000 ha in 2015.
How does South Africa rank for artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area?
South Africa ranks 21st out of 197 countries with data for 2019.
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 CGLS. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

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Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in South Africa. Statizoid, drawing on Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Retrieved 25 August 2026, from https://environment.statizoid.com/stat/artificial-surfaces-including-urban-and-associated-areas-area-from-cgls/south-africa/

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About this data

Indicator
Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area from CGLS
Unit
1000 ha
Source
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Licence
CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO)
Coverage
241 places, 1,205 data points, 2015–2019
Last refreshed

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.