Arable land in North America
North America: Arable land was 0.5034 hectares per person in 2023. ▼ Falling
Arable land in North America, 1961–2023
Source: FAO electronic files and web site, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), publisher: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Measured in hectares per person.
Analysis
In 2023, arable land in North America stood at 0.5034 hectares per person. That is the lowest value across all 63 years on record.
That represents a change of down 1.1% on the previous year and down 8.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, arable land in North America peaked at 1.08 hectares per person in 1961 and was at its lowest, 0.5034 hectares per person, in 2023.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 63 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1.02 hectares per person | 0.9709 hectares per person | 1.08 hectares per person | 9 |
| 1970s | 0.9528 hectares per person | 0.9176 hectares per person | 1 hectares per person | 10 |
| 1980s | 0.87 hectares per person | 0.8284 hectares per person | 0.9097 hectares per person | 10 |
| 1990s | 0.7578 hectares per person | 0.6996 hectares per person | 0.8185 hectares per person | 10 |
| 2000s | 0.6355 hectares per person | 0.579 hectares per person | 0.6917 hectares per person | 10 |
| 2010s | 0.5461 hectares per person | 0.5266 hectares per person | 0.5688 hectares per person | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.512 hectares per person | 0.5034 hectares per person | 0.5198 hectares per person | 4 |
More agriculture & rural data for North America
- Agricultural raw materials exports 1.9% (2024)
- Agricultural raw materials imports 0.8% (2024)
- Rural population 19.5% (2025)
- Rural population growth 0.2% (2025)
- Rural population 74.83 million (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 1.0% (2021)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 256.06 billion current US$ (2021)
- Land under cereal production 54.08 million hectares (2024)
- Cereal yield 8,414 kg per hectare (2024)
- Cereal production 454.99 million metric tons (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is arable land in North America?
- Arable land in North America was 0.5034 hectares per person in 2023, according to FAO electronic files and web site, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), publisher: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
- What is the highest arable land recorded in North America?
- The highest recorded value was 1.08 hectares per person in 1961.
- What is the lowest arable land recorded in North America?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.5034 hectares per person in 2023.
- Is arable land rising or falling in North America?
- Over the last ten years it is down 8.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this North America data come from?
- The figures come from FAO electronic files and web site, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), publisher: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), published as part of Arable land (hectares per person). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 63 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Arable land (hectares per person) includes land defined by the FAO as land under temporary crops (double-cropped areas are counted once), temporary meadows for mowing or for pasture, land under market or kitchen gardens, and land temporarily fallow. Land abandoned as a result of shifting cultivation is excluded.