Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in China

China: Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops was 0.1335 in 2023. ◆ Volatile

Latest (2023)
0.1335
Change on year
down 1.5%
World rank
158th
of 163 countries
All-time high
1
in 1961
All-time low
0.1335
in 2023
Years of data
63
1961–2023

Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in China, 1961–2023

0.20.40.60.81196119922023

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025); Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data.

Analysis

In 2023, arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in China stood at 0.1335. That is the lowest value across all 63 years on record.

Compared with earlier readings it is down 1.5% on the previous year and down 20.9% over ten years.

Over the whole period, arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in China peaked at 1 in 1961 and was at its lowest, 0.1335, in 2023.

That places China 158th out of 163 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the bottom quarter.

The series is highly variable year to year, so single readings are best treated with caution.

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1960s 0.8283 0.716 1 9
1970s 0.5859 0.4991 0.6652 10
1980s 0.47 0.449 0.5037 10
1990s 0.3504 0.2829 0.4288 10
2000s 0.2352 0.2012 0.2668 10
2010s 0.1634 0.141 0.1932 10
2020s 0.1368 0.1335 0.1403 4

Countries ranked near China

  1. 155 Pakistan 0.1437 compare
  2. 156 Libya 0.1422 compare
  3. 157 Niger 0.1361 compare
  4. 159 Laos 0.1071 compare
  5. 160 Chile 0.0922 compare
  6. 161 Costa Rica 0.0815 compare

See the full ranking of 163 places →

More reference data data for China

All data for China →

Frequently asked questions

What is arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in China?
Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in China was 0.1335 in 2023, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025); Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
What is the highest arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops recorded in China?
The highest recorded value was 1 in 1961.
What is the lowest arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops recorded in China?
The lowest recorded value was 0.1335 in 2023.
How does China rank for arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops?
China ranks 158th out of 163 countries with data for 2023.
Is arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops rising or falling in China?
Over the last ten years it is down 20.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is volatile.
Where does this China data come from?
The figures come from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025); Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 63 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).

About this data

Indicator
Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops
Source
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025); Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
163 places, 10,097 data points, 1961–2023
Last refreshed

Index of arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops (where values in 1961 are equal to 1.0).