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This article includes the table with land use statistics by country. Countries are ranked by their total cultivated land area, which is the sum of the total arable land area and total area of permanent crops. Arable land is defined as being cultivated for crops like wheat, maize, and rice, all of which are
- Breakdown of Global Land Use Today
- How Has Global Land Use Changed Over The Long-Term?
- Agricultural Land Use Over The Long-Run
- How Much Land Do Countries Use For Agriculture?
- Cropland Use Per Person
- Agricultural Land Use Per Person
- Land Use by Crop
- Land Use by Food Type
- Definitions
Half of the world's habitable land is used for agriculture
For much of human history, most of the world’s land was wilderness: forests, grasslands and shrubbery dominated its landscapes. Over the last few centuries, this has changed dramatically: wild habitats have been squeezed out by turning it into agricultural land. If we rewind 1000 years, it is estimated that only 4 millionsquare kilometers – less than 4% of the world’s ice-free and non-barren land area was used for farming. In the visualization we see the breakdown of global land area today. 1...
How the world's land is used: total area sizes by type of use & cover
Visualising land use areas on a global map is perhaps the most relatable way to understand the scale of different land uses across the world. In the visualization here we show the graphic displayed above – on the breakdown of global land use & cover – by scale on a global map. Here, land use groupings are aggregated to show the total surface area allocated for each. Note that these are not used to represent the distribution of each: this figure does not mean the United States is wholly used f...
The visualisation shows human land use over the long-term (since 10,000 BC), and details the change in total land used for cropland, grazing land and built-up/urban area in hectares. This can also be viewed by select countries and all regions using the "change country/region" option.
Total agricultural land use
This visualisation shows total land used for agriculture (which is a combination of cropland and grazing land) over the long-term, measured in hectares. In the following sections you can find disaggregated data for cropland and grazing land change over time.
Cropland use
This visualisation shows total cropland (which does not include land for grazing) over the long-term, measured in hectares.
Grazing land use
This visualisation shows total grazing land over the long-term, measured in hectares.
We use roughly half of global habitable land for agriculture. But how much of total land area is utilised for agriculture across the world? In the map here we see the share of total (both habitable and non-habitable) land area used for agriculture. There is large variability in the share of land a given country uses for agriculture. Allocation rang...
Cropland per person over the long-term
The visualisation here shows the change in the average cropland use per person over the long-term (since 10,000 BC), measured in hectares per person.
Cropland use per person in the near-term
Global population has more than doubledover the last 50 years. To meet the demands of a rapidly growing population on a planet with finite land resources, reducing our per capita land footprint is essential. In the chart here we have plotted trends of the average arable land use per person across the world's regions. Overall we see that the arable land use per capita has declined across all regions since 1961. Per capita land use is highest in North America-- more than double the land use of...
Agricultural land per person over the long-term
The visualisation shows the change in the average agricultural land use (which is the sum of cropland and grazing area) per person over the long-term (since 10,000 BC), measured in hectares per person.
Agricultural land per person over the near-term
If we extend our land coverage above from arable land use to total agricultural land (which is the sum of arable, permanent crops and pastures and meadows), we still see overall declines in land per person but with different rates and patterns of reduction. Overall, we see that agricultural land per person is higher than that of arable land. At the global level, per capita agricultural land use is now less than half its value in 1961. Africa in particular has seen dramatic reductions in agric...
In the chart here we see the global area of land use in agriculture by major crop types, from 1961 to 2014. Overall, we see that the majority of our arable land is used for cereal production; this has grown from around 650 to 720 million hectares (an area roughly twice the size of Germany) over this period. The total land area used for coarse grain...
The amount of land required to produce food has wide variations depending on the product--this is especially true when differentiating crops and animal products. In the chart here we have plotted the average land required (sometimes termed the "land footprint") to produce one gram of protein across a range of food types. At the bottom of the scale,...
Land use categories
The following discussions on global land use (particularly in relation to agriculture) cover a number of definitions and combined categories. It is therefore useful to understand the differences between land use terminology; for example, the definition of "arable land" versus "agricultural land". To provide some clarity on the definitions used here (and the common terminology within the literature) we have visualised these land use categories and groupings in the chart shown here. Also shown...
Definitions of agricultural land use
The Land Area of the World is 13,003 million ha. 4,889 million ha are classified as 'agricultural area' by the FAO (this is 37.6% of the Land Area). The agricultural area use is divided into 3 categories: arable land (28% of the global agricultural area), permanent crops (3%) and permanent meadows and pastures (69%) which account for the largest share of the world's agricultural area.6 What do these words mean? The agricultural areais the sum of arable land, permanent crops, permanent meadows...
People also ask
How are land use statistics ranked by country?
What percentage of land does a country use for agriculture?
What percentage of land is used for livestock?
Which countries use the most land?
Land use. Customise. Export. My Queries. Variable. Total area Land area Arable land and permanent crops Permanent meadows and pastures Forest Other areas Percentage in land area Arable and cropland % land area Meadows and pastures % land area Forest % land area Other % land area. Unit.
Land area in square kilometres. Land area per crop type. Land use for palm oil production. Land use for vegetable oil crops. Land use of foods per 1000 kilocalories. Land use over the long-term. Land use per 100 grams of protein. Land use per kilogram of food product. Land use vs. yield change in cereal production.
5 days ago · The FAOSTAT Land Use statistics and associated land indicators provide information on the full land use matrix by country, including agricultural land (1961–2018) and forest land (1990–2018). These statistics are based on data collected annually from countries via a standard Land Use, Irrigation and Agricultural Practices questionnaire.
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May 11, 2021 · In contrast, inventories and statistics mostly concern land use (the purpose for, and activities by which humans utilise land, e.g. grazing, cropping), encompass long time spans, but are bound to ...
