Land cover and land cover change — Gain of artificial surfaces in OECD
OECD: Land cover and land cover change — Gain of artificial surfaces was 136,872 Square kilometres in 2022. ▲ Rising
Land cover and land cover change — Gain of artificial surfaces in OECD, 2005–2022
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Measured in Square kilometres.
Analysis
The most recent figure for land cover and land cover change — gain of artificial surfaces in OECD is 136,872 Square kilometres, measured in 2022. That is the highest value across all 5 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 8.6% on the previous year and up 64.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, land cover and land cover change — gain of artificial surfaces in OECD peaked at 136,872 Square kilometres in 2022 and was at its lowest, 55,937 Square kilometres, in 2005.
OECD ranks 1st of 164 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.
Land cover and land cover change — Gain of artificial surfaces in OECD, year by year
| Year | Square kilometres | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 55,937 Square kilometres | — |
| 2010 | 83,255 Square kilometres | +48.8% |
| 2015 | 110,385 Square kilometres | +32.6% |
| 2020 | 126,075 Square kilometres | +14.2% |
| 2022 | 136,872 Square kilometres | +8.6% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 55,937 Square kilometres | 55,937 Square kilometres | 55,937 Square kilometres | 1 |
| 2010s | 96,820 Square kilometres | 83,255 Square kilometres | 110,385 Square kilometres | 2 |
| 2020s | 131,474 Square kilometres | 126,075 Square kilometres | 136,872 Square kilometres | 2 |
Countries ranked near OECD
More environment data for OECD
- Standard Deviation, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly -2.62 Percentage change (2025)
- Historical exposure to drought — Cropland soil moisture anomaly -3.17 Percentage change (2025)
- Temperature change 2.18 °C (2025)
- Standard Deviation 0.312 °C (2025)
- Permanent crops — Area 24,537 1000 ha (2024)
- Permanent crops — Share in Agricultural land 2.11 % (2024)
- Arable land — Share in Agricultural land 30.73 % (2024)
- Arable land — Area 357,807 1000 ha (2024)
- Cropland — Share in Land area 11.21 % (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is land cover and land cover change — gain of artificial surfaces in OECD?
- Land cover and land cover change — gain of artificial surfaces in OECD was 136,872 Square kilometres in 2022, according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
- What is the highest land cover and land cover change — gain of artificial surfaces recorded in OECD?
- The highest recorded value was 136,872 Square kilometres in 2022.
- What is the lowest land cover and land cover change — gain of artificial surfaces recorded in OECD?
- The lowest recorded value was 55,937 Square kilometres in 2005.
- How does OECD rank for land cover and land cover change — gain of artificial surfaces?
- OECD ranks 1st out of 164 countries with data for 2022.
- Is land cover and land cover change — gain of artificial surfaces rising or falling in OECD?
- Over the last ten years it is up 64.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this OECD data come from?
- The figures come from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, published as part of Land cover and land cover change — Gain of artificial surfaces. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 5 observations, free to reuse under OECD Terms and Conditions (attribution required).
About this data
The land cover dataset provides a global assessment of land cover and land cover change to monitor pressures on ecosystems and biodiversity. By using geospatial data with high spatio-temporal resolution, it develops a set of internationally comparable indicators with a long time series and a five-year interval from 2000 to 2022 for the Climate Change Initiative Land Cover dataset, and from 1975 to 2030 for the Global Human Settlement Layer dataset. Please see the working paper for a more complete description of the methods. The dataset has a global coverage on the national level, while on the sub-national TL2 level (i.e. large subnational regions) results are reported for all OECD countries as well as for Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and South Africa. The following country aggregates are included: Euro area, European Union, Advanced economies, Emerging market economies, G7, G20, OECD, OECD Europe, OECD Asia Oceania, OECD Americas, the LAC region and the World. Data source(s): Climate Change Initiative land cover data and Global Human Settlement Layer built-up area data. Contact: ENV.Stat@oecd.org Database documentation