Land use in Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso: Land use was 8.61 million hectares in 2023. ▲ Rising
Land use in Burkina Faso, 1961–2023
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in hectares.
Analysis
Burkina Faso recorded 8.61 million hectares for land use in 2023. That is the highest value across all 63 years on record.
The figure is up 0.2% on the previous year and up 20.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, land use in Burkina Faso peaked at 8.61 million hectares in 2023 and was at its lowest, 3.02 million hectares, in 1961.
Burkina Faso ranks 38th of 223 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 63 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 3.02 million hectares | 3.02 million hectares | 3.02 million hectares | 9 |
| 1970s | 3.03 million hectares | 3.02 million hectares | 3.04 million hectares | 10 |
| 1980s | 3.32 million hectares | 3.04 million hectares | 3.82 million hectares | 10 |
| 1990s | 4.52 million hectares | 3.95 million hectares | 5.08 million hectares | 10 |
| 2000s | 5.81 million hectares | 5.21 million hectares | 6.43 million hectares | 10 |
| 2010s | 7.39 million hectares | 6.59 million hectares | 8.14 million hectares | 10 |
| 2020s | 8.47 million hectares | 8.27 million hectares | 8.61 million hectares | 4 |
Countries ranked near Burkina Faso
More environment data for Burkina Faso
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF 34.92 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF per capita 1.48 t CO2e/capita (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture 14.39 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Building (Energy) 1.67 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Fugitive Emissions (Energy) 2.3 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Industrial Combustion (Energy) 0.0021 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF 21 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Power Industry (Energy) 0.0014 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Transport (Energy) 0.0197 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Waste 2.61 Mt CO2e (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is land use in Burkina Faso?
- Land use in Burkina Faso was 8.61 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 Burkina Faso?
- The highest recorded value was 8.61 million hectares in 2023.
- What is the lowest land use recorded in Burkina Faso?
- The lowest recorded value was 3.02 million hectares in 1961.
- How does Burkina Faso rank for land use?
- Burkina Faso ranks 38th out of 223 countries with data for 2023.
- Is land use rising or falling in Burkina Faso?
- Over the last ten years it is up 20.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Burkina Faso 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).