Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in Iceland
Iceland: Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops was 0.6013 in 2023. ▼ Falling
Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in Iceland, 1961–2023
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
The most recent figure for arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in Iceland is 0.6013, measured in 2023.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 5.5% on the previous year and down 34.0% over ten years.
Over the whole period, arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in Iceland peaked at 2.83 in 1966 and was at its lowest, 0.5463, in 2016.
That places Iceland 49th out of 163 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 63 years of available data.
Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in Iceland, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1961 | 1 | — |
| 1962 | 1.27 | +26.5% |
| 1963 | 1.4 | +10.3% |
| 1964 | 1.45 | +3.6% |
| 1965 | 1.01 | -30.1% |
| 1966 | 2.83 | +179.5% |
| 1967 | 1.76 | -37.7% |
| 1968 | 2.02 | +14.5% |
| 1969 | 2.4 | +19.0% |
| 1970 | 2.1 | -12.5% |
| 1971 | 1.1 | -47.5% |
| 1972 | 1.45 | +31.7% |
| 1973 | 1.96 | +35.0% |
| 1974 | 0.9895 | -49.5% |
| 1975 | 1.91 | +93.1% |
| 1976 | 1.74 | -8.9% |
| 1977 | 1.6 | -8.1% |
| 1978 | 1 | -37.4% |
| 1979 | 1.86 | +86.1% |
| 1980 | 0.8834 | -52.6% |
| 1981 | 1.19 | +34.4% |
| 1982 | 0.9505 | -19.9% |
| 1983 | 2.24 | +135.6% |
| 1984 | 0.7159 | -68.0% |
| 1985 | 1.01 | +40.6% |
| 1986 | 0.8198 | -18.5% |
| 1987 | 0.7618 | -7.1% |
| 1988 | 1.23 | +60.9% |
| 1989 | 1.48 | +20.5% |
| 1990 | 1.45 | -1.8% |
| 1991 | 0.8359 | -42.4% |
| 1992 | 1.07 | +27.5% |
| 1993 | 1.17 | +9.7% |
| 1994 | 0.9563 | -18.2% |
| 1995 | 1.27 | +33.0% |
| 1996 | 0.9116 | -28.3% |
| 1997 | 1.1 | +21.1% |
| 1998 | 0.8512 | -22.9% |
| 1999 | 0.9942 | +16.8% |
| 2000 | 0.9036 | -9.1% |
| 2001 | 0.8098 | -10.4% |
| 2002 | 1.01 | +24.2% |
| 2003 | 1.02 | +1.7% |
| 2004 | 0.7675 | -24.9% |
| 2005 | 0.6892 | -10.2% |
| 2006 | 0.6563 | -4.8% |
| 2007 | 0.6493 | -1.1% |
| 2008 | 0.6547 | +0.8% |
| 2009 | 0.7449 | +13.8% |
| 2010 | 0.638 | -14.4% |
| 2011 | 0.8145 | +27.7% |
| 2012 | 0.6803 | -16.5% |
| 2013 | 0.9114 | +34.0% |
| 2014 | 0.7552 | -17.1% |
| 2015 | 0.6277 | -16.9% |
| 2016 | 0.5463 | -13.0% |
| 2017 | 0.5744 | +5.1% |
| 2018 | 0.7821 | +36.2% |
| 2019 | 0.5849 | -25.2% |
| 2020 | 0.6195 | +5.9% |
| 2021 | 0.6365 | +2.8% |
| 2022 | 0.5701 | -10.4% |
| 2023 | 0.6013 | +5.5% |
Iceland compared with similar countries
- Iceland's 0.6013 is above the median for high income countries, which is 0.5062, 1.2× the median. (53 countries reporting)
- Iceland's 0.6013 is above the median for Europe & Central Asia, which is 0.5463, 1.1× the median. (24 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in Iceland changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | +179.5% | 1.01 | 2.83 |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1.68 | 1 | 2.83 | 9 |
| 1970s | 1.57 | 0.9895 | 2.1 | 10 |
| 1980s | 1.13 | 0.7159 | 2.24 | 10 |
| 1990s | 1.06 | 0.8359 | 1.45 | 10 |
| 2000s | 0.7903 | 0.6493 | 1.02 | 10 |
| 2010s | 0.6915 | 0.5463 | 0.9114 | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.6068 | 0.5701 | 0.6365 | 4 |
Countries ranked near Iceland
More reference data data for Iceland
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 0.0288 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Manure left on Pasture 0.0708 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 0.1854 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 0.0001 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Agricultural Soils 0.1854 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 0.0964 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure Management 0.062 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure left on Pasture 0.2576 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 0.7664 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 0.0005 (2050)
Frequently asked questions
- What is arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in Iceland?
- Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in Iceland was 0.6013 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 Iceland?
- The highest recorded value was 2.83 in 1966.
- What is the lowest arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops recorded in Iceland?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.5463 in 2016.
- How does Iceland rank for arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops?
- Iceland ranks 49th out of 163 countries with data for 2023.
- Is arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops rising or falling in Iceland?
- Over the last ten years it is down 34.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Iceland 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
Index of arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops (where values in 1961 are equal to 1.0).