Land use for palm oil production by country

Countries reporting
44
Highest
14.32 million hectares
Indonesia
Lowest
600 hectares
Suriname
Median
49,385 hectares
Years covered
64
1961–2024
Data points
2,666

What the numbers show

Land use for palm oil production is currently reported for 44 countries. The highest value is 14.32 million hectares in Indonesia; the lowest is 600 hectares in Suriname.

The median across all reporting countries is 49,385 hectares, and the mean is 659,577 hectares.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 23,867.

Over the past decade 39 countries rose and 5 fell. The largest increase was in Panama (up 383.9%), and the largest decrease in Ecuador (down 42.2%).

Land use for palm oil production: full country ranking

#Country LatestYear 10-year changeTrend
1 Indonesia 14.32 million hectares 2024 up 75.7% volatile
2 Malaysia 5.07 million hectares 2024 up 8.0% volatile
3 Nigeria 4.49 million hectares 2024 up 44.1% rising
4 Thailand 1.01 million hectares 2024 up 57.6% volatile
5 Colombia 511,583 hectares 2024 up 80.2% volatile
6 Ghana 435,934 hectares 2024 up 24.9% volatile
7 Cote d'Ivoire 359,423 hectares 2024 up 33.1% volatile
8 Guinea 333,229 hectares 2024 up 6.3% rising
9 Democratic Republic of Congo 296,829 hectares 2024 up 8.7% rising
10 Papua New Guinea 281,937 hectares 2024 up 68.8% volatile
11 Guatemala 230,000 hectares 2024 up 91.7% volatile
12 Cameroon 223,979 hectares 2024 up 64.3% volatile
13 Brazil 221,828 hectares 2024 up 75.3% volatile
14 Honduras 186,555 hectares 2024 up 43.5% volatile
15 Ecuador 157,204 hectares 2024 down 42.2% volatile
16 Mexico 102,610 hectares 2024 up 101.7% volatile
17 Peru 100,000 hectares 2024 up 166.2% volatile
18 Costa Rica 74,742 hectares 2024 down 3.9% volatile
19 Philippines 68,315 hectares 2024 up 24.0% volatile
20 Gabon 68,166 hectares 2024 up 267.7% volatile
21 Sierra Leone 51,556 hectares 2024 up 80.0% rising
22 China 50,672 hectares 2024 up 0.6% rising
23 Venezuela 48,098 hectares 2024 up 21.5% volatile
24 Benin 42,069 hectares 2024 up 16.0% rising
25 Cambodia 41,647 hectares 2024 up 191.2% volatile
26 Nicaragua 29,980 hectares 2023 up 76.4% volatile
27 Solomon Islands 28,000 hectares 2024 up 64.7% volatile
28 Panama 25,770 hectares 2024 up 383.9% volatile
29 Dominican Republic 25,000 hectares 2024 up 33.6% rising
30 Angola 23,308 hectares 2024 up 1.0% rising
31 Liberia 19,512 hectares 2024 up 10.5% rising
32 Togo 16,800 hectares 2024 up 26.2% falling
33 Paraguay 15,404 hectares 2024 down 3.9% flat
34 Congo 12,438 hectares 2024 up 7.2% rising
35 Senegal 11,822 hectares 2024 up 6.8% rising
36 Guinea-Bissau 9,570 hectares 2024 up 0.7% falling
37 Burundi 8,843 hectares 2024 up 2.4% volatile
38 Tanzania 5,603 hectares 2024 up 7.5% rising
39 Equatorial Guinea 3,945 hectares 2024 up 11.7% rising
40 Gambia 3,513 hectares 2024 up 0.2% rising
41 Sao Tome and Principe 2,130 hectares 2024 up 28.3% volatile
42 Madagascar 1,812 hectares 2024 up 0.2% rising
43 Central African Republic 647 hectares 2024 down 0.3% volatile
44 Suriname 600 hectares 2024 down 3.4% volatile

About this data

Indicator
Land use for palm oil production
Unit
hectares
Source
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
44 places, 2,666 data points, 1961–2024
Last refreshed