Land use in Australia
Australia: Land use was 31.37 million hectares in 2023. ▲ Rising
Land use in Australia, 1961–2023
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in hectares.
Analysis
Australia recorded 31.37 million hectares for land use in 2023.
The figure is down 0.9% on the previous year and down 0.7% over ten years.
Over the whole period, land use in Australia peaked at 32.31 million hectares in 2014 and was at its lowest, 13.75 million hectares, in 1975.
Australia ranks 11th of 223 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 63 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 17.74 million hectares | 14.55 million hectares | 21.60 million hectares | 9 |
| 1970s | 16.07 million hectares | 13.75 million hectares | 18.68 million hectares | 10 |
| 1980s | 19.51 million hectares | 17.70 million hectares | 21.91 million hectares | 10 |
| 1990s | 18.87 million hectares | 16.40 million hectares | 23.26 million hectares | 10 |
| 2000s | 24.87 million hectares | 23.53 million hectares | 27.51 million hectares | 10 |
| 2010s | 30.90 million hectares | 25.97 million hectares | 32.31 million hectares | 10 |
| 2020s | 31.42 million hectares | 31.00 million hectares | 31.65 million hectares | 4 |
Countries ranked near Australia
More environment data for Australia
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF 591.45 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF per capita 21.75 t CO2e/capita (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture 84.7 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Building (Energy) 0.4769 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Fugitive Emissions (Energy) 43.21 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Industrial Combustion (Energy) 0.1578 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF 144.58 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Power Industry (Energy) 0.104 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Transport (Energy) 0.1978 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Waste 15.7 Mt CO2e (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is land use in Australia?
- Land use in Australia was 31.37 million hectares in 2023, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest land use recorded in Australia?
- The highest recorded value was 32.31 million hectares in 2014.
- What is the lowest land use recorded in Australia?
- The lowest recorded value was 13.75 million hectares in 1975.
- How does Australia rank for land use?
- Australia ranks 11th out of 223 countries with data for 2023.
- Is land use rising or falling in Australia?
- Over the last ten years it is down 0.7%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Australia data come from?
- The figures come from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Land use. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 63 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).