Land statistics and indicators. Global, regional and country trends, 2000–2020
15/07/2022
Land use statistics describe activities undertaken for the purpose of economic production, and more recently for the maintenance and restoration of environmental functions. The FAOSTAT domains Land Use, Land use indicators and Land Cover are available for 198 countries and 43 territories over 1961–2020. The land use data disseminated in FAOSTAT are relevant to monitor sustainable and productive agriculture, forestry and fisheries activities at national, regional and global level. In particular, agricultural land statistics serve as a denominator to compute SDG indicator 2.4.1.
The latest update reports the main results and changes over time in land use with a focus on agricultural land uses and its components, including important irrigation and agricultural practices, and with details at global, regional and country level during the past decades (2000–2020).
According to the latest data, in 2020, world total agricultural land was about 4.7 billion hectares, about one-third of the global land area. One-third of agricultural land was cropland (nearly 1.6 billion hectares) while the remaining two-thirds were permanent meadows and pastures (around 3.2 billion hectares). Agricultural land decreased by nearly 3 percent in the last two decades, due to a combined 5 percent increase in cropland and a 6 percent decrease in permanent meadows and pastures.
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FAOSTAT Land domains:
