Land use in Italy
Italy: Land use was 9.48 million hectares in 2023. ▼ Falling
Land use in Italy, 1961–2023
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in hectares.
Analysis
Italy recorded 9.48 million hectares for land use in 2023.
That represents a change of up 0.1% on the previous year and up 4.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, land use in Italy peaked at 15.61 million hectares in 1961 and was at its lowest, 9.05 million hectares, in 2015.
Italy ranks 32nd of 223 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 63 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 15.33 million hectares | 15.00 million hectares | 15.61 million hectares | 9 |
| 1970s | 12.60 million hectares | 12.23 million hectares | 14.93 million hectares | 10 |
| 1980s | 12.20 million hectares | 11.97 million hectares | 12.44 million hectares | 10 |
| 1990s | 11.34 million hectares | 10.93 million hectares | 11.97 million hectares | 10 |
| 2000s | 10.39 million hectares | 9.56 million hectares | 11.28 million hectares | 10 |
| 2010s | 9.25 million hectares | 9.05 million hectares | 9.63 million hectares | 10 |
| 2020s | 9.43 million hectares | 9.36 million hectares | 9.48 million hectares | 4 |
Countries ranked near Italy
More environment data for Italy
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF 371.17 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF per capita 6.3 t CO2e/capita (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture 21.92 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Building (Energy) 2.28 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Fugitive Emissions (Energy) 4.49 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Industrial Combustion (Energy) 0.0558 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF 44.9 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Power Industry (Energy) 0.1973 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Transport (Energy) 0.3495 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Waste 15.57 Mt CO2e (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is land use in Italy?
- Land use in Italy was 9.48 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 Italy?
- The highest recorded value was 15.61 million hectares in 1961.
- What is the lowest land use recorded in Italy?
- The lowest recorded value was 9.05 million hectares in 2015.
- How does Italy rank for land use?
- Italy ranks 32nd out of 223 countries with data for 2023.
- Is land use rising or falling in Italy?
- Over the last ten years it is up 4.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Italy 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).