World · 2023
Cropland, by country
Cropland is land that grows crops: the fields that are ploughed and sown each year, together with the orchards, vineyards and plantations that stay planted for decades. It is about an eighth of the world’s land — far less than the area given over to grazing.
Cropland grew from 10.2% of the world’s land in 1961 to 12.1% in 2023. Permanent crops — oil palm, fruit, nuts, coffee — account for a rising part of that growth: their share of land has more than doubled since 1961.
The same series as a table
| Year | % of land area |
|---|---|
| 1961 | 10.23 |
| 1971 | 10.59 |
| 1981 | 11.12 |
| 1991 | 11.74 |
| 2001 | 11.62 |
| 2011 | 11.90 |
| 2021 | 12.15 |
| 2023 | 12.14 |
Where it is
Largest cropland areamillion hectares, 2023
- India168.3
- United States154.7
- China127.6
- Russian Federation123.6
- Brazil63.4
- Nigeria44.2
- Indonesia44.1
- Argentina41.5
- Canada38.3
- Ukraine33.8
Largest share of the country% of land area, 2023
- Bangladesh67.7%
- Burundi65.1%
- Moldova64.9%
- Comoros63.4%
- Rwanda60.7%
- Denmark59.9%
- Ukraine58.3%
- India56.6%
- Togo51.9%
- Nigeria48.6%
Most land in permanent crops% of land area, 2023
- Sao Tome and Principe39.6%
- Kiribati39.5%
- Marshall Islands36.1%
- Cote d'Ivoire29.9%
- Comoros28.5%
- Micronesia, Fed. Sts.24.3%
- Malaysia22.7%
- Dominica22.7%
- Sri Lanka19.3%
- Philippines18.9%
Permanent crops lead in the tropics and on islands, where tree crops — coconut, oil palm, cocoa, coffee — replace annual fields. See every economy →
What counts as cropland
Cropland here is the sum of two FAO categories: arable land and land under permanent crops. Hectares are worked out from each country’s share of land and its land area, because the source publishes permanent crops only as a share. Definitions and neighbouring terms →
Latest observation 2023. World Bank dataset last updated 2026-07-13; retrieved 2026-09-21.