Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in South Africa
South Africa: Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area was 1,111 1000 ha in 2024. ▲ Rising
Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in South Africa, 2001–2024
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in 1000 ha.
Analysis
South Africa recorded 1,111 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 0.2% on the previous year and up 2.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in South Africa peaked at 1,111 1000 ha in 2024 and was at its lowest, 1,053 1000 ha, in 2001.
That places South Africa 18th out of 223 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.
Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in South Africa, year by year
| Year | 1000 ha | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 1,053 1000 ha | — |
| 2002 | 1,056 1000 ha | +0.3% |
| 2003 | 1,058 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2004 | 1,059 1000 ha | +0.1% |
| 2005 | 1,061 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2006 | 1,063 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2007 | 1,066 1000 ha | +0.3% |
| 2008 | 1,069 1000 ha | +0.3% |
| 2009 | 1,071 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2010 | 1,072 1000 ha | +0.1% |
| 2011 | 1,073 1000 ha | +0.1% |
| 2012 | 1,076 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2013 | 1,078 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2014 | 1,080 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2015 | 1,083 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2016 | 1,087 1000 ha | +0.4% |
| 2017 | 1,090 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2018 | 1,091 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2019 | 1,094 1000 ha | +0.3% |
| 2020 | 1,098 1000 ha | +0.3% |
| 2021 | 1,100 1000 ha | +0.3% |
| 2022 | 1,106 1000 ha | +0.5% |
| 2023 | 1,109 1000 ha | +0.3% |
| 2024 | 1,111 1000 ha | +0.2% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 1,062 1000 ha | 1,053 1000 ha | 1,071 1000 ha | 9 |
| 2010s | 1,082 1000 ha | 1,072 1000 ha | 1,094 1000 ha | 10 |
| 2020s | 1,105 1000 ha | 1,098 1000 ha | 1,111 1000 ha | 5 |
Countries ranked near South Africa
More environment data for South Africa
- Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly 5.46 Percentage change (2025)
- Historical exposure to drought — Cropland soil moisture anomaly 8.52 Percentage change (2025)
- Standard Deviation, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Standard Deviation 0.275 °C (2025)
- Temperature change 1.05 °C (2025)
- Other paper and paperboard — Import quantity, annual growth rate 9.67 % change on previous year (2024)
- Other paper and paperboard — Import quantity, per capita 0.0074 t per person (2024)
- Other paper and paperboard — Import value, annual growth rate -4.84 % change on previous year (2024)
- Other paper and paperboard — Import value, per capita 0.0081 1000 USD per person (2024)
- Other paper and paperboard, not elsewhere specified — Import -37.67 % change on previous year (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in South Africa?
- Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in South Africa was 1,111 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 South Africa?
- The highest recorded value was 1,111 1000 ha in 2024.
- What is the lowest artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area recorded in South Africa?
- The lowest recorded value was 1,053 1000 ha in 2001.
- How does South Africa rank for artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area?
- South Africa ranks 18th out of 223 countries with data for 2024.
- Is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area rising or falling in South Africa?
- Over the last ten years it is up 2.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this South Africa 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.