Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in Australia
Australia: Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area was 1,125 1000 ha in 2024. ▲ Rising
Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in Australia, 2001–2024
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in 1000 ha.
Analysis
Australia recorded 1,125 1000 ha for artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in 2024. 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 2.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Australia peaked at 1,125 1000 ha in 2024 and was at its lowest, 1,068 1000 ha, in 2001.
Australia ranks 16th of 223 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 24 years of available data.
Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in Australia, year by year
| Year | 1000 ha | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 1,068 1000 ha | — |
| 2002 | 1,075 1000 ha | +0.7% |
| 2003 | 1,078 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2004 | 1,079 1000 ha | +0.1% |
| 2005 | 1,081 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2006 | 1,082 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2007 | 1,085 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2008 | 1,087 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2009 | 1,089 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2010 | 1,093 1000 ha | +0.4% |
| 2011 | 1,096 1000 ha | +0.4% |
| 2012 | 1,099 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2013 | 1,100 1000 ha | +0.1% |
| 2014 | 1,102 1000 ha | +0.1% |
| 2015 | 1,104 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2016 | 1,106 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2017 | 1,109 1000 ha | +0.3% |
| 2018 | 1,113 1000 ha | +0.4% |
| 2019 | 1,115 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2020 | 1,118 1000 ha | +0.3% |
| 2021 | 1,121 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2022 | 1,123 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2023 | 1,124 1000 ha | +0.1% |
| 2024 | 1,125 1000 ha | +0.1% |
Australia compared with similar countries
- Australia's 1,125 1000 ha is above the median for high income countries, which is 38.62 1000 ha, 29.1× the median. (73 countries reporting)
- Australia's 1,125 1000 ha is above the median for East Asia & Pacific, which is 3.66 1000 ha, 307.4× the median. (27 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 1,080 1000 ha | 1,068 1000 ha | 1,089 1000 ha | 9 |
| 2010s | 1,104 1000 ha | 1,093 1000 ha | 1,115 1000 ha | 10 |
| 2020s | 1,122 1000 ha | 1,118 1000 ha | 1,125 1000 ha | 5 |
Countries ranked near Australia
- 13 Uzbekistan 1,172 1000 ha compare
- 13 Melanesia 29.85 1000 ha compare
- 14 Lao People's Democratic Republic 20.5 1000 ha compare
- 14 Ukraine 1,169 1000 ha compare
- 15 Timor-Leste 6.07 1000 ha compare
- 15 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 1,145 1000 ha compare
- 16 Micronesia 2.23 1000 ha compare
- 17 Mexico 1,114 1000 ha compare
- 18 Micronesia (Federated States of) 0 1000 ha
- 18 South Africa 1,111 1000 ha compare
- 18 Wallis and Futuna Islands 0 1000 ha
- 18 Polynesia 0 1000 ha
- 19 Canada 1,099 1000 ha compare
More environment data for Australia
- Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly -4.75 Percentage change (2025)
- Historical exposure to drought — Cropland soil moisture anomaly -5.98 Percentage change (2025)
- Standard Deviation, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Standard Deviation 0.345 °C (2025)
- Temperature change 1.4 °C (2025)
- Wood-based panels — Production, annual growth rate -1.03 % change on previous year (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), annual 0.6708 % change on previous year (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), per unit 0 Mt CO2e per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), per capita 0 Mt CO2e per person (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture (Mt CO2e), annual growth rate 0.0861 % change on previous year (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Australia?
- Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Australia was 1,125 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 Australia?
- The highest recorded value was 1,125 1000 ha in 2024.
- What is the lowest artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area recorded in Australia?
- The lowest recorded value was 1,068 1000 ha in 2001.
- How does Australia rank for artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area?
- Australia ranks 16th out of 223 countries with data for 2024.
- Is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area rising or falling in Australia?
- Over the last ten years it is up 2.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Australia 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
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.