How does Americas rank for artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area?

Americas ranks 3rd out of 29 groups with data for 2024.

Is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area rising or falling in Americas?

Over the last ten years it is up 1.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is flat.

Where does this Americas 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 MODIS. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

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

Name: Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in Americas
Creator: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
License: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO)

Americas: Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area was 26,302 1000 ha in 2024. ▬ Flat

Latest (2024)

26,302 1000 ha

Change on year

up 0.1%

Rank

3rd

of 29 groups

All-time high

26,302 1000 ha

in 2024

All-time low

25,468 1000 ha

in 2001

Years of data

2001–2024

Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in Americas, 2001–2024

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

Analysis

In 2024, artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Americas stood at 26,302 1000 ha. That is the highest value across all 24 years on record.

Compared with earlier readings it is up 0.1% on the previous year and up 1.2% over ten years.

Over the whole period, artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Americas peaked at 26,302 1000 ha in 2024 and was at its lowest, 25,468 1000 ha, in 2001.

Americas ranks 3rd of 29 groups on this measure, in the top 10%.

Averages by decade

Decade	Average	Lowest	Highest	Years
2000s	25,676 1000 ha	25,468 1000 ha	25,836 1000 ha	9
2010s	26,004 1000 ha	25,872 1000 ha	26,142 1000 ha	10
2020s	26,239 1000 ha	26,172 1000 ha	26,302 1000 ha	5

Countries ranked near Americas

1 China 16,225 1000 ha compare
2 China, mainland 15,855 1000 ha compare
3 Brazil 4,060 1000 ha compare
4 India 3,952 1000 ha compare
5 Japan 3,409 1000 ha compare
6 Russian Federation 3,155 1000 ha compare

See the full ranking of 269 places →

More environment data for Americas

Nutrient potash K2O (total) — Use per capita 14.92 kg/cap (2024)
Cropland — Area per capita 0.36 ha/cap (2024)
Arable land — Area 347,983 1000 ha (2024)
Arable land — Share in Agricultural land 31.51 % (2024)
Nutrient potash K2O (total) — Use per value of agricultural production 16.06 g/Int$ (2024)
Nutrient potash K2O (total) — Agricultural Use 15.65 million t (2024)
Permanent crops — Area 29,878 1000 ha (2024)
Nutrient potash K2O (total) — Import quantity 19.01 million t (2024)
Country area — Area 4.65 million 1000 ha (2024)
Nutrient potash K2O (total) — Use per area of cropland 41.48 kg/ha (2024)

All data for Americas →

Frequently asked questions

What is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Americas?: Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Americas was 26,302 1000 ha in 2024, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
What is the highest artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area recorded in Americas?: The highest recorded value was 26,302 1000 ha in 2024.
What is the lowest artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area recorded in Americas?: The lowest recorded value was 25,468 1000 ha in 2001.
How does Americas rank for artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area?: Americas ranks 3rd out of 29 groups with data for 2024.
Is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area rising or falling in Americas?: Over the last ten years it is up 1.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is flat.
Where does this Americas 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 MODIS. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 24 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO).

About this data

Indicator: Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area from MODIS
Unit: 1000 ha
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO)
Coverage: 269 places, 6,390 data points, 2001–2024
Last refreshed: 12 August 2026

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.