Land statistics and indicators (2000–2021). Global, regional and country trends

Land use statistics describe the ways in which land is utilized and managed by humans and allocated for different purposes, including through administrative arrangements. FAO collects annual land use data from countries via a standard land use, irrigation and agricultural practices questionnaire, covering the full land use matrix in countries using international definitions first developed by the World Census of Agriculture. The resulting land use statistics and indicators are disseminated annually in FAOSTAT, and complemented by land cover statistics independently compiled by FAO from available land cover maps. The FAOSTAT domains Land Use and Land Cover are available for 198 countries and 42 territories over 1961–2021. These data 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.