China vs United States: Breakdown of habitable land area

China
11.36 million hectares
in 2019
United States
14.09 million hectares
in 2019
China rank
5th
United States rank
4th

Breakdown of habitable land area over time

  • China
  • United States
05.0M10.0M15.0M201520172019

How they compare

United States currently reports 14.09 million hectares against 11.36 million hectares in China, a difference of 2.73 million hectares.

That makes United States's figure about 1.2 times China's.

Across all 5 years both countries report, United States has been ahead every year.

China ranks 5th and United States ranks 4th of 235 countries.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator
Breakdown of habitable land area
Unit
hectares
Source
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
235 places, 1,175 data points, 2015–2019
Last refreshed

Habitable land is defined as ice- and barren-free land. Agricultural land is the sum of croplands and pasture for grazing.