Land use in Benin
Benin: Land use was 4.17 million hectares in 2023. ▲ Rising
Land use in Benin, 1961–2023
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in hectares.
Analysis
Benin recorded 4.17 million hectares for land use in 2023.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 3.2% on the previous year and up 21.5% over ten years.
Over the whole period, land use in Benin peaked at 4.31 million hectares in 2022 and was at its lowest, 972,560 hectares, in 1961.
That places Benin 63rd out of 223 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 63 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1.08 million hectares | 972,560 hectares | 1.24 million hectares | 9 |
| 1970s | 1.41 million hectares | 1.26 million hectares | 1.53 million hectares | 10 |
| 1980s | 1.65 million hectares | 1.56 million hectares | 1.71 million hectares | 10 |
| 1990s | 2.03 million hectares | 1.71 million hectares | 2.56 million hectares | 10 |
| 2000s | 2.88 million hectares | 2.64 million hectares | 3.19 million hectares | 10 |
| 2010s | 3.45 million hectares | 2.94 million hectares | 4.08 million hectares | 10 |
| 2020s | 4.11 million hectares | 3.88 million hectares | 4.31 million hectares | 4 |
Countries ranked near Benin
More environment data for Benin
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF 17.77 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF per capita 1.23 t CO2e/capita (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture 3.77 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Building (Energy) 0.7055 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Fugitive Emissions (Energy) 1.72 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Industrial Combustion (Energy) 0.0019 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF 7.64 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Power Industry (Energy) 0.0005 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Transport (Energy) 0.0384 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Waste 1.41 Mt CO2e (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is land use in Benin?
- Land use in Benin was 4.17 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 Benin?
- The highest recorded value was 4.31 million hectares in 2022.
- What is the lowest land use recorded in Benin?
- The lowest recorded value was 972,560 hectares in 1961.
- How does Benin rank for land use?
- Benin ranks 63rd out of 223 countries with data for 2023.
- Is land use rising or falling in Benin?
- Over the last ten years it is up 21.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Benin 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).