Land use in Cameroon
Cameroon: Land use was 7.90 million hectares in 2023. ▲ Rising
Land use in Cameroon, 1961–2023
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in hectares.
Analysis
In 2023, land use in Cameroon stood at 7.90 million hectares. That is the highest value across all 63 years on record.
That represents a change of up 0.3% on the previous year and up 1.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, land use in Cameroon peaked at 7.90 million hectares in 2023 and was at its lowest, 5.51 million hectares, in 1961.
That places Cameroon 42nd out of 223 countries with data for 2023, putting it 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 | 5.74 million hectares | 5.51 million hectares | 5.97 million hectares | 9 |
| 1970s | 6.37 million hectares | 5.98 million hectares | 6.91 million hectares | 10 |
| 1980s | 7.11 million hectares | 6.93 million hectares | 7.23 million hectares | 10 |
| 1990s | 7.16 million hectares | 7.15 million hectares | 7.17 million hectares | 10 |
| 2000s | 7.21 million hectares | 7.16 million hectares | 7.31 million hectares | 10 |
| 2010s | 7.76 million hectares | 7.70 million hectares | 7.81 million hectares | 10 |
| 2020s | 7.87 million hectares | 7.83 million hectares | 7.90 million hectares | 4 |
Countries ranked near Cameroon
More environment data for Cameroon
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF 40.62 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF per capita 1.39 t CO2e/capita (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture 7.44 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Building (Energy) 2.23 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Fugitive Emissions (Energy) 7.73 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Industrial Combustion (Energy) 0.0019 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF 21.82 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Power Industry (Energy) 0.0018 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Transport (Energy) 0.0255 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Waste 4.38 Mt CO2e (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is land use in Cameroon?
- Land use in Cameroon was 7.90 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 Cameroon?
- The highest recorded value was 7.90 million hectares in 2023.
- What is the lowest land use recorded in Cameroon?
- The lowest recorded value was 5.51 million hectares in 1961.
- How does Cameroon rank for land use?
- Cameroon ranks 42nd out of 223 countries with data for 2023.
- Is land use rising or falling in Cameroon?
- Over the last ten years it is up 1.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Cameroon 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).