Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in Nigeria
Nigeria: Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops was 0.2491 in 2023. ▼ Falling
Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in Nigeria, 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 Nigeria is 0.2491, measured in 2023. That is the lowest value across all 63 years on record.
That represents a change of down 0.4% on the previous year and down 29.0% over ten years.
Over the whole period, arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in Nigeria peaked at 1.03 in 1978 and was at its lowest, 0.2491, in 2023.
That places Nigeria 123rd out of 163 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the bottom quarter.
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 Nigeria, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1961 | 1 | — |
| 1962 | 0.9519 | -4.8% |
| 1963 | 0.916 | -3.8% |
| 1964 | 0.8998 | -1.8% |
| 1965 | 0.8698 | -3.3% |
| 1966 | 0.9129 | +5.0% |
| 1967 | 0.8823 | -3.4% |
| 1968 | 0.872 | -1.2% |
| 1969 | 0.7915 | -9.2% |
| 1970 | 0.7389 | -6.6% |
| 1971 | 0.8308 | +12.4% |
| 1972 | 0.9408 | +13.2% |
| 1973 | 0.9164 | -2.6% |
| 1974 | 0.8285 | -9.6% |
| 1975 | 0.8915 | +7.6% |
| 1976 | 0.9746 | +9.3% |
| 1977 | 0.9852 | +1.1% |
| 1978 | 1.03 | +4.4% |
| 1979 | 1.02 | -0.4% |
| 1980 | 1 | -2.3% |
| 1981 | 0.996 | -0.5% |
| 1982 | 0.9823 | -1.4% |
| 1983 | 0.9908 | +0.9% |
| 1984 | 0.9323 | -5.9% |
| 1985 | 0.8844 | -5.1% |
| 1986 | 0.8118 | -8.2% |
| 1987 | 0.7962 | -1.9% |
| 1988 | 0.6888 | -13.5% |
| 1989 | 0.6183 | -10.2% |
| 1990 | 0.5874 | -5.0% |
| 1991 | 0.5279 | -10.1% |
| 1992 | 0.5074 | -3.9% |
| 1993 | 0.4825 | -4.9% |
| 1994 | 0.4835 | +0.2% |
| 1995 | 0.4908 | +1.5% |
| 1996 | 0.4705 | -4.1% |
| 1997 | 0.4568 | -2.9% |
| 1998 | 0.4545 | -0.5% |
| 1999 | 0.4483 | -1.4% |
| 2000 | 0.444 | -1.0% |
| 2001 | 0.4586 | +3.3% |
| 2002 | 0.4374 | -4.6% |
| 2003 | 0.4156 | -5.0% |
| 2004 | 0.3899 | -6.2% |
| 2005 | 0.368 | -5.6% |
| 2006 | 0.3439 | -6.6% |
| 2007 | 0.3738 | +8.7% |
| 2008 | 0.3507 | -6.2% |
| 2009 | 0.4095 | +16.8% |
| 2010 | 0.3476 | -15.1% |
| 2011 | 0.3767 | +8.4% |
| 2012 | 0.3394 | -9.9% |
| 2013 | 0.3508 | +3.4% |
| 2014 | 0.3106 | -11.5% |
| 2015 | 0.3021 | -2.7% |
| 2016 | 0.2793 | -7.6% |
| 2017 | 0.2743 | -1.8% |
| 2018 | 0.262 | -4.5% |
| 2019 | 0.2714 | +3.6% |
| 2020 | 0.2672 | -1.5% |
| 2021 | 0.2553 | -4.5% |
| 2022 | 0.2501 | -2.0% |
| 2023 | 0.2491 | -0.4% |
Nigeria compared with similar countries
- Nigeria's 0.2491 is below the median for lower middle income countries, which is 0.2966, 84% of the median. (43 countries reporting)
- Nigeria's 0.2491 is below the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 0.3874, 64% of the median. (44 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 0.8996 | 0.7915 | 1 | 9 |
| 1970s | 0.9159 | 0.7389 | 1.03 | 10 |
| 1980s | 0.8702 | 0.6183 | 1 | 10 |
| 1990s | 0.491 | 0.4483 | 0.5874 | 10 |
| 2000s | 0.3992 | 0.3439 | 0.4586 | 10 |
| 2010s | 0.3114 | 0.262 | 0.3767 | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.2555 | 0.2491 | 0.2672 | 4 |
Countries ranked near Nigeria
More reference data data for Nigeria
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 1.77 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Manure left on Pasture 19.51 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 27 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 2.62 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Agricultural Soils 27 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 5.94 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure Management 5.8 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure left on Pasture 81.9 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 121.16 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 14.27 (2050)
Frequently asked questions
- What is arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in Nigeria?
- Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in Nigeria was 0.2491 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 Nigeria?
- The highest recorded value was 1.03 in 1978.
- What is the lowest arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops recorded in Nigeria?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.2491 in 2023.
- How does Nigeria rank for arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops?
- Nigeria ranks 123rd out of 163 countries with data for 2023.
- Is arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops rising or falling in Nigeria?
- Over the last ten years it is down 29.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Nigeria 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).