Land use in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe: Land use was 4.07 million hectares in 2023. ▲ Rising
Land use in Zimbabwe, 1961–2023
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in hectares.
Analysis
Zimbabwe recorded 4.07 million hectares for land use in 2023.
The figure is down 0.1% on the previous year and down 0.5% over ten years.
Over the whole period, land use in Zimbabwe peaked at 4.29 million hectares in 2008 and was at its lowest, 995,609 hectares, in 1961.
That places Zimbabwe 64th 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 | 1.16 million hectares | 995,609 hectares | 1.33 million hectares | 9 |
| 1970s | 1.74 million hectares | 1.40 million hectares | 1.99 million hectares | 10 |
| 1980s | 2.50 million hectares | 2.07 million hectares | 2.93 million hectares | 10 |
| 1990s | 3.18 million hectares | 2.84 million hectares | 3.51 million hectares | 10 |
| 2000s | 3.93 million hectares | 3.66 million hectares | 4.29 million hectares | 10 |
| 2010s | 4.09 million hectares | 4.04 million hectares | 4.24 million hectares | 10 |
| 2020s | 4.07 million hectares | 4.07 million hectares | 4.08 million hectares | 4 |
Countries ranked near Zimbabwe
More environment data for Zimbabwe
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF 30.78 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF per capita 1.85 t CO2e/capita (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture 9.2 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Building (Energy) 1.05 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Fugitive Emissions (Energy) 0.9067 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Industrial Combustion (Energy) 0.0093 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF 12.79 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Power Industry (Energy) 0.0022 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Transport (Energy) 0.0156 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Waste 1.6 Mt CO2e (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is land use in Zimbabwe?
- Land use in Zimbabwe was 4.07 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 Zimbabwe?
- The highest recorded value was 4.29 million hectares in 2008.
- What is the lowest land use recorded in Zimbabwe?
- The lowest recorded value was 995,609 hectares in 1961.
- How does Zimbabwe rank for land use?
- Zimbabwe ranks 64th out of 223 countries with data for 2023.
- Is land use rising or falling in Zimbabwe?
- Over the last ten years it is down 0.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Zimbabwe 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).