Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in North Korea
North Korea: Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops was 0.4962 in 2023. ▼ Falling
Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in North Korea, 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
North Korea recorded 0.4962 for arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in 2023.
The figure is up 0.3% on the previous year and up 10.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in North Korea peaked at 1 in 1961 and was at its lowest, 0.3745, in 1991.
That places North Korea 69th 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 North Korea, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1961 | 1 | — |
| 1962 | 0.9544 | -4.6% |
| 1963 | 0.8984 | -5.9% |
| 1964 | 0.8665 | -3.5% |
| 1965 | 0.9259 | +6.9% |
| 1966 | 0.8724 | -5.8% |
| 1967 | 0.9014 | +3.3% |
| 1968 | 0.9021 | +0.1% |
| 1969 | 0.8085 | -10.4% |
| 1970 | 0.8017 | -0.8% |
| 1971 | 0.7544 | -5.9% |
| 1972 | 0.7542 | -0.0% |
| 1973 | 0.7121 | -5.6% |
| 1974 | 0.6721 | -5.6% |
| 1975 | 0.6309 | -6.1% |
| 1976 | 0.604 | -4.3% |
| 1977 | 0.574 | -5.0% |
| 1978 | 0.5605 | -2.4% |
| 1979 | 0.5435 | -3.0% |
| 1980 | 0.5777 | +6.3% |
| 1981 | 0.5376 | -6.9% |
| 1982 | 0.5862 | +9.0% |
| 1983 | 0.564 | -3.8% |
| 1984 | 0.5272 | -6.5% |
| 1985 | 0.5147 | -2.4% |
| 1986 | 0.4849 | -5.8% |
| 1987 | 0.4781 | -1.4% |
| 1988 | 0.474 | -0.9% |
| 1989 | 0.4567 | -3.6% |
| 1990 | 0.4536 | -0.7% |
| 1991 | 0.3745 | -17.4% |
| 1992 | 0.3821 | +2.0% |
| 1993 | 0.3937 | +3.0% |
| 1994 | 0.4563 | +15.9% |
| 1995 | 0.6049 | +32.6% |
| 1996 | 0.6283 | +3.9% |
| 1997 | 0.5934 | -5.5% |
| 1998 | 0.5039 | -15.1% |
| 1999 | 0.5028 | -0.2% |
| 2000 | 0.5262 | +4.7% |
| 2001 | 0.4776 | -9.2% |
| 2002 | 0.4742 | -0.7% |
| 2003 | 0.4665 | -1.6% |
| 2004 | 0.4586 | -1.7% |
| 2005 | 0.4586 | -0.0% |
| 2006 | 0.4636 | +1.1% |
| 2007 | 0.5057 | +9.1% |
| 2008 | 0.4781 | -5.5% |
| 2009 | 0.4865 | +1.7% |
| 2010 | 0.4864 | -0.0% |
| 2011 | 0.4733 | -2.7% |
| 2012 | 0.4597 | -2.9% |
| 2013 | 0.4504 | -2.0% |
| 2014 | 0.454 | +0.8% |
| 2015 | 0.4772 | +5.1% |
| 2016 | 0.479 | +0.4% |
| 2017 | 0.4943 | +3.2% |
| 2018 | 0.5118 | +3.5% |
| 2019 | 0.4543 | -11.2% |
| 2020 | 0.4933 | +8.6% |
| 2021 | 0.4926 | -0.2% |
| 2022 | 0.4949 | +0.5% |
| 2023 | 0.4962 | +0.3% |
North Korea compared with similar countries
- North Korea's 0.4962 is above the median for low income countries, which is 0.4868, 1.0× the median. (21 countries reporting)
- North Korea's 0.4962 is above the median for East Asia & Pacific, which is 0.4156, 1.2× the median. (28 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in North Korea 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | +32.6% | 0.4563 | 0.6049 |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 0.9033 | 0.8085 | 1 | 9 |
| 1970s | 0.6607 | 0.5435 | 0.8017 | 10 |
| 1980s | 0.5201 | 0.4567 | 0.5862 | 10 |
| 1990s | 0.4893 | 0.3745 | 0.6283 | 10 |
| 2000s | 0.4796 | 0.4586 | 0.5262 | 10 |
| 2010s | 0.474 | 0.4504 | 0.5118 | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.4943 | 0.4926 | 0.4962 | 4 |
Countries ranked near North Korea
More reference data data for North Korea
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Agricultural Soils 1.75 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (CH4) - Burning - Crop residues 3.54 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (CO2eq) (AR5) - Agricultural Soils 1,939 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Direct emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 0.838 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Direct emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 5.57 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Direct emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 1.91 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (CO2eq) from CH4 (AR5) - Manure Management 325.47 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (CH4) - Manure Management 11.62 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (CO2eq) from N2O (AR5) - Agricultural 1,939 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (CO2eq) from N2O (AR5) - Burning - Crop 24.3 (2050)
Frequently asked questions
- What is arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in North Korea?
- Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in North Korea was 0.4962 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 North Korea?
- The highest recorded value was 1 in 1961.
- What is the lowest arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops recorded in North Korea?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.3745 in 1991.
- How does North Korea rank for arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops?
- North Korea ranks 69th out of 163 countries with data for 2023.
- Is arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops rising or falling in North Korea?
- Over the last ten years it is up 10.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this North Korea 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).