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

Over the last ten years it is up 6.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.

Where does this China 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 China

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

China: Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area was 16,225 1000 ha in 2024. ▲ Rising

Latest (2024)

16,225 1000 ha

Change on year

up 0.1%

World rank

1st

of 240 countries

All-time high

16,225 1000 ha

in 2024

All-time low

13,532 1000 ha

in 2001

Years of data

2001–2024

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

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 China is 16,225 1000 ha, measured in 2024. That is the highest value across all 24 years on record.

That represents a change of up 0.1% on the previous year and up 6.8% over ten years.

Over the whole period, artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in China peaked at 16,225 1000 ha in 2024 and was at its lowest, 13,532 1000 ha, in 2001.

That places China 1st out of 240 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the top 10%.

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

Averages by decade

Decade	Average	Lowest	Highest	Years
2000s	14,020 1000 ha	13,532 1000 ha	14,506 1000 ha	9
2010s	15,241 1000 ha	14,622 1000 ha	15,842 1000 ha	10
2020s	16,134 1000 ha	15,989 1000 ha	16,225 1000 ha	5

Countries ranked near China

2 China, mainland 15,855 1000 ha compare
3 Brazil 4,060 1000 ha compare
4 India 3,952 1000 ha compare

See the full ranking of 269 places →

More environment data for China

Land area equipped for irrigation — Share in Cropland 57.9 % (2024)
Land area equipped for irrigation — Area 74,915 1000 ha (2024)
Inland waters — Area 17,531 1000 ha (2024)
Permanent meadows and pastures — Share in Land area 27.93 % (2024)
Permanent meadows and pastures — Share in Agricultural land 67.04 % (2024)
Permanent meadows and pastures — Area 263,216 1000 ha (2024)
Permanent crops — Share in Agricultural land 5.18 % (2024)
Permanent crops — Area 20,327 1000 ha (2024)
Arable land — Share in Agricultural land 27.78 % (2024)
Arable land — Area 109,061 1000 ha (2024)

All data for China →

Frequently asked questions

What is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in China?: Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in China was 16,225 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 China?: The highest recorded value was 16,225 1000 ha in 2024.
What is the lowest artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area recorded in China?: The lowest recorded value was 13,532 1000 ha in 2001.
How does China rank for artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area?: China ranks 1st out of 240 countries with data for 2024.
Is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area rising or falling in China?: Over the last ten years it is up 6.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this China 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.