Land use in Jamaica
Jamaica: Land use was 188,000 hectares in 2023. ▼ Falling
Land use in Jamaica, 1961–2023
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in hectares.
Analysis
Jamaica recorded 188,000 hectares for land use in 2023. That is the lowest value across all 63 years on record.
That represents a change of down 0.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, land use in Jamaica peaked at 276,000 hectares in 1961 and was at its lowest, 188,000 hectares, in 2015.
That places Jamaica 146th out of 223 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 63 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 267,111 hectares | 260,000 hectares | 276,000 hectares | 9 |
| 1970s | 249,000 hectares | 240,000 hectares | 250,000 hectares | 10 |
| 1980s | 225,000 hectares | 220,000 hectares | 240,000 hectares | 10 |
| 1990s | 252,700 hectares | 219,000 hectares | 274,000 hectares | 10 |
| 2000s | 238,100 hectares | 217,000 hectares | 250,000 hectares | 10 |
| 2010s | 189,330 hectares | 188,000 hectares | 192,300 hectares | 10 |
| 2020s | 188,000 hectares | 188,000 hectares | 188,000 hectares | 4 |
Countries ranked near Jamaica
More environment data for Jamaica
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF 9.42 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF per capita 3.32 t CO2e/capita (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture 0.43 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Building (Energy) 0.0303 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Fugitive Emissions (Energy) 0.0828 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Industrial Combustion (Energy) 0.0028 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF 0.8368 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Power Industry (Energy) 0.004 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Transport (Energy) 0.0136 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Waste 0.2734 Mt CO2e (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is land use in Jamaica?
- Land use in Jamaica was 188,000 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 Jamaica?
- The highest recorded value was 276,000 hectares in 1961.
- What is the lowest land use recorded in Jamaica?
- The lowest recorded value was 188,000 hectares in 2015.
- How does Jamaica rank for land use?
- Jamaica ranks 146th out of 223 countries with data for 2023.
- Is land use rising or falling in Jamaica?
- Over the last ten years it is down 0.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Jamaica 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).