crop.land

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.

1.58 bn hacropland worldwide · share of land × land area, 2023
12.2%of the world’s land area · 2023
1.5%of land under permanent crops · 2023; 10.7% is arable
Cropland, world% of land area, 1961–2023

Cropland grew from 10.2% of the world’s land in 1961 to 12.2% 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
196110.23
197110.59
198111.12
199111.74
200111.62
201111.91
202112.16
202312.15

Where it is

Largest cropland areamillion hectares, 2023

  1. India168.0
  2. United States154.7
  3. China128.6
  4. Russian Federation123.7
  5. Brazil63.7
  6. Argentina48.9
  7. Nigeria45.0
  8. Indonesia43.8
  9. Canada38.2
  10. Ukraine33.8

Largest share of the country% of land area, 2023

  1. Comoros70.9%
  2. Rwanda70.4%
  3. Bangladesh67.6%
  4. Moldova63.2%
  5. Gambia, The60.7%
  6. Denmark59.5%
  7. Ukraine58.3%
  8. Uganda57.4%
  9. India56.5%
  10. Burundi55.6%

Most land in permanent crops% of land area, 2023

  1. Comoros41.3%
  2. Sao Tome and Principe40.9%
  3. Kiribati39.5%
  4. Marshall Islands37.4%
  5. Cote d'Ivoire26.7%
  6. Micronesia, Fed. Sts.24.3%
  7. Dominica22.6%
  8. Rwanda21.5%
  9. Malaysia21.4%
  10. Sri Lanka19.5%

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 2026-10-08; retrieved 2026-10-30.