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

Northern America: Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area was 15,847 1000 ha in 2024. ▬ Flat

Latest (2024)
15,847 1000 ha
Change on year
up 0.1%
Rank
5th
of 26 groups
All-time high
15,847 1000 ha
in 2024
All-time low
15,260 1000 ha
in 2001
Years of data
24
2001–2024

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

05.0k10.0k15.0k2001201220242001: 15.3k 1000 ha2002: 15.3k 1000 ha2003: 15.3k 1000 ha2004: 15.4k 1000 ha2005: 15.4k 1000 ha2006: 15.5k 1000 ha2007: 15.5k 1000 ha2008: 15.5k 1000 ha2009: 15.5k 1000 ha2010: 15.6k 1000 ha2011: 15.6k 1000 ha2012: 15.6k 1000 ha2013: 15.6k 1000 ha2014: 15.6k 1000 ha2015: 15.7k 1000 ha2016: 15.7k 1000 ha2017: 15.7k 1000 ha2018: 15.7k 1000 ha2019: 15.7k 1000 ha2020: 15.8k 1000 ha2021: 15.8k 1000 ha2022: 15.8k 1000 ha2023: 15.8k 1000 ha2024: 15.8k 1000 ha

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 Northern America is 15,847 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 1.4% over ten years.

Over the whole period, artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Northern America peaked at 15,847 1000 ha in 2024 and was at its lowest, 15,260 1000 ha, in 2001.

That places Northern America 5th out of 26 groups with data for 2024, putting it in the top quarter.

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

Annual values for Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area from MODIS in Northern America, 2001 to 2024.
Year 1000 ha Change
2001 15,260 1000 ha
2002 15,324 1000 ha +0.4%
2003 15,345 1000 ha +0.1%
2004 15,370 1000 ha +0.2%
2005 15,413 1000 ha +0.3%
2006 15,457 1000 ha +0.3%
2007 15,492 1000 ha +0.2%
2008 15,521 1000 ha +0.2%
2009 15,538 1000 ha +0.1%
2010 15,562 1000 ha +0.2%
2011 15,586 1000 ha +0.2%
2012 15,604 1000 ha +0.1%
2013 15,612 1000 ha +0.0%
2014 15,629 1000 ha +0.1%
2015 15,652 1000 ha +0.1%
2016 15,669 1000 ha +0.1%
2017 15,689 1000 ha +0.1%
2018 15,710 1000 ha +0.1%
2019 15,735 1000 ha +0.2%
2020 15,757 1000 ha +0.1%
2021 15,779 1000 ha +0.1%
2022 15,804 1000 ha +0.2%
2023 15,829 1000 ha +0.2%
2024 15,847 1000 ha +0.1%

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
2000s 15,413 1000 ha 15,260 1000 ha 15,538 1000 ha 9
2010s 15,645 1000 ha 15,562 1000 ha 15,735 1000 ha 10
2020s 15,803 1000 ha 15,757 1000 ha 15,847 1000 ha 5

Countries ranked near Northern America

  1. 2 China, mainland 15,855 1000 ha compare
  2. 3 Brazil 4,060 1000 ha compare
  3. 4 India 3,952 1000 ha compare
  4. 5 Japan 3,409 1000 ha compare
  5. 6 Russian Federation 3,155 1000 ha compare
  6. 7 Germany 2,597 1000 ha compare
  7. 8 Argentina 1,761 1000 ha compare

See the full ranking of 269 places →

More environment data for Northern America

All data for Northern America →

Frequently asked questions

What is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Northern America?
Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Northern America was 15,847 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 Northern America?
The highest recorded value was 15,847 1000 ha in 2024.
What is the lowest artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area recorded in Northern America?
The lowest recorded value was 15,260 1000 ha in 2001.
How does Northern America rank for artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area?
Northern America ranks 5th out of 26 groups with data for 2024.
Is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area rising or falling in Northern America?
Over the last ten years it is up 1.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is flat.
Where does this Northern 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 Northern America. Statizoid, drawing on Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Retrieved 22 August 2026, from https://environment.statizoid.com/stat/artificial-surfaces-including-urban-and-associated-areas-area-from-modis/northern-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.