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

Over the last ten years it is up 11.7%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.

Where does this Malawi 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 Malawi

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

Malawi: Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area was 24.08 1000 ha in 2024. ▲ Rising

Latest (2024)

24.08 1000 ha

Change on year

up 1.3%

World rank

143rd

of 240 countries

All-time high

24.08 1000 ha

in 2024

All-time low

18.97 1000 ha

in 2001

Years of data

2001–2024

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

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

Analysis

Malawi recorded 24.08 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 1.3% on the previous year and up 11.7% over ten years.

Over the whole period, artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Malawi peaked at 24.08 1000 ha in 2024 and was at its lowest, 18.97 1000 ha, in 2001.

Malawi ranks 143rd of 240 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.

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

Averages by decade

Decade	Average	Lowest	Highest	Years
2000s	19.99 1000 ha	18.97 1000 ha	20.75 1000 ha	9
2010s	21.76 1000 ha	20.98 1000 ha	22.61 1000 ha	10
2020s	23.5 1000 ha	22.91 1000 ha	24.08 1000 ha	5

Countries ranked near Malawi

140 Latvia 25.26 1000 ha compare
141 Albania 24.61 1000 ha compare
142 China, Hong Kong SAR 24.47 1000 ha compare
144 Papua New Guinea 23.15 1000 ha compare
145 Sierra Leone 23.09 1000 ha compare
146 Brunei Darussalam 22.91 1000 ha compare

See the full ranking of 269 places →

More environment data for Malawi

Land area equipped for irrigation — Share in Cropland 3.67 % (2024)
Land area equipped for irrigation — Area 157.29 1000 ha (2024)
Inland waters — Area 2,420 1000 ha (2024)
Permanent meadows and pastures — Share in Land area 19.62 % (2024)
Permanent meadows and pastures — Share in Agricultural land 30.17 % (2024)
Permanent meadows and pastures — Area 1,850 1000 ha (2024)
Permanent crops — Share in Agricultural land 4.6 % (2024)
Permanent crops — Area 282.19 1000 ha (2024)
Arable land — Share in Agricultural land 65.23 % (2024)
Arable land — Area 4,000 1000 ha (2024)

All data for Malawi →

Frequently asked questions

What is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Malawi?: Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Malawi was 24.08 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 Malawi?: The highest recorded value was 24.08 1000 ha in 2024.
What is the lowest artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area recorded in Malawi?: The lowest recorded value was 18.97 1000 ha in 2001.
How does Malawi rank for artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area?: Malawi ranks 143rd out of 240 countries with data for 2024.
Is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area rising or falling in Malawi?: Over the last ten years it is up 11.7%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Malawi 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.