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

Central America: Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area was 1,330 1000 ha in 2024. ▲ Rising

Latest (2024)
1,330 1000 ha
Change on year
up 0.2%
Rank
20th
of 26 groups
All-time high
1,330 1000 ha
in 2024
All-time low
1,224 1000 ha
in 2001
Years of data
24
2001–2024

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

05001.0k1.5k2001201220242001: 1.2k 1000 ha2002: 1.2k 1000 ha2003: 1.2k 1000 ha2004: 1.2k 1000 ha2005: 1.2k 1000 ha2006: 1.2k 1000 ha2007: 1.2k 1000 ha2008: 1.2k 1000 ha2009: 1.3k 1000 ha2010: 1.3k 1000 ha2011: 1.3k 1000 ha2012: 1.3k 1000 ha2013: 1.3k 1000 ha2014: 1.3k 1000 ha2015: 1.3k 1000 ha2016: 1.3k 1000 ha2017: 1.3k 1000 ha2018: 1.3k 1000 ha2019: 1.3k 1000 ha2020: 1.3k 1000 ha2021: 1.3k 1000 ha2022: 1.3k 1000 ha2023: 1.3k 1000 ha2024: 1.3k 1000 ha

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

Analysis

Central America recorded 1,330 1000 ha for artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in 2024. That is the highest value across all 24 years on record.

That represents a change of up 0.2% on the previous year and up 4.0% over ten years.

Over the whole period, artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Central America peaked at 1,330 1000 ha in 2024 and was at its lowest, 1,224 1000 ha, in 2001.

Central America ranks 20th of 26 groups on this measure, in the bottom quarter.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 24 years of available data.

Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in Central America, year by year

Annual values for Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area from MODIS in Central America, 2001 to 2024.
Year 1000 ha Change
2001 1,224 1000 ha —
2002 1,228 1000 ha +0.3%
2003 1,229 1000 ha +0.1%
2004 1,231 1000 ha +0.2%
2005 1,233 1000 ha +0.2%
2006 1,236 1000 ha +0.3%
2007 1,241 1000 ha +0.3%
2008 1,245 1000 ha +0.3%
2009 1,250 1000 ha +0.5%
2010 1,257 1000 ha +0.6%
2011 1,263 1000 ha +0.5%
2012 1,270 1000 ha +0.6%
2013 1,274 1000 ha +0.3%
2014 1,278 1000 ha +0.3%
2015 1,285 1000 ha +0.5%
2016 1,289 1000 ha +0.3%
2017 1,293 1000 ha +0.3%
2018 1,298 1000 ha +0.4%
2019 1,303 1000 ha +0.4%
2020 1,307 1000 ha +0.3%
2021 1,312 1000 ha +0.4%
2022 1,319 1000 ha +0.5%
2023 1,327 1000 ha +0.6%
2024 1,330 1000 ha +0.2%

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
2000s 1,235 1000 ha 1,224 1000 ha 1,250 1000 ha 9
2010s 1,281 1000 ha 1,257 1000 ha 1,303 1000 ha 10
2020s 1,319 1000 ha 1,307 1000 ha 1,330 1000 ha 5

Countries ranked near Central America

  1. 17 Mexico 1,114 1000 ha compare
  2. 18 Micronesia (Federated States of) 0 1000 ha
  3. 18 South Africa 1,111 1000 ha compare
  4. 18 Wallis and Futuna Islands 0 1000 ha
  5. 18 Polynesia 0 1000 ha
  6. 19 Canada 1,099 1000 ha compare
  7. 20 Nigeria 898.22 1000 ha compare
  8. 21 Poland 840.17 1000 ha compare
  9. 22 Pakistan 716.04 1000 ha compare
  10. 23 Spain 668.72 1000 ha compare

See the full ranking of 269 places →

More environment data for Central America

All data for Central America →

Frequently asked questions

What is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Central America?
Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Central America was 1,330 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 Central America?
The highest recorded value was 1,330 1000 ha in 2024.
What is the lowest artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area recorded in Central America?
The lowest recorded value was 1,224 1000 ha in 2001.
How does Central America rank for artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area?
Central America ranks 20th out of 26 groups with data for 2024.
Is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area rising or falling in Central America?
Over the last ten years it is up 4.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Central America 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.

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Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in Central America. Statizoid, drawing on Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Retrieved 27 September 2026, from https://environment.statizoid.com/stat/artificial-surfaces-including-urban-and-associated-areas-area-from-modis/central-america/

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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

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.