Arable land in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka: Arable land was 1.37 million hectares in 2023. ▲ Rising
Arable land in Sri Lanka, 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.
Analysis
Sri Lanka recorded 1.37 million hectares for arable land in 2023. That is the highest value across all 63 years on record.
That represents a change of up 5.5% over ten years.
Over the whole period, arable land in Sri Lanka peaked at 1.37 million hectares in 2020 and was at its lowest, 577,000 hectares, in 1962.
Sri Lanka ranks 94th of 206 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 63 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 748,111 hectares | 577,000 hectares | 804,000 hectares | 9 |
| 1970s | 877,930 hectares | 810,000 hectares | 999,700 hectares | 10 |
| 1980s | 869,880 hectares | 852,200 hectares | 880,900 hectares | 10 |
| 1990s | 884,850 hectares | 875,200 hectares | 892,600 hectares | 10 |
| 2000s | 1.01 million hectares | 900,000 hectares | 1.20 million hectares | 10 |
| 2010s | 1.31 million hectares | 1.20 million hectares | 1.37 million hectares | 10 |
| 2020s | 1.37 million hectares | 1.37 million hectares | 1.37 million hectares | 4 |
Countries ranked near Sri Lanka
More agriculture & rural data for Sri Lanka
- Agricultural raw materials exports 2.7% (2024)
- Agricultural raw materials imports 1.9% (2024)
- Rural population 79.5% (2025)
- Rural population growth -0.9% (2025)
- Rural population 17.31 million (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 8.4% (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 9.10 billion current US$ (2025)
- Land under cereal production 1.25 million hectares (2023)
- Cereal yield 3,804 kg per hectare (2023)
- Cereal production 4.74 million metric tons (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is arable land in Sri Lanka?
- Arable land in Sri Lanka was 1.37 million hectares 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 Sri Lanka?
- The highest recorded value was 1.37 million hectares in 2020.
- What is the lowest arable land recorded in Sri Lanka?
- The lowest recorded value was 577,000 hectares in 1962.
- How does Sri Lanka rank for arable land?
- Sri Lanka ranks 94th out of 206 countries with data for 2023.
- Is arable land rising or falling in Sri Lanka?
- Over the last ten years it is up 5.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Sri Lanka 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). 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 (in hectares) 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.