Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia: Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops was 0.2389 in 2023. ▼ Falling
Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in Saudi Arabia, 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
Saudi Arabia recorded 0.2389 for arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in 2023. That is the lowest value across all 63 years on record.
That represents a change of down 12.5% on the previous year and down 43.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in Saudi Arabia peaked at 1 in 1961 and was at its lowest, 0.2389, in 2023.
That places Saudi Arabia 124th 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 Saudi Arabia, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1961 | 1 | — |
| 1962 | 0.9947 | -0.5% |
| 1963 | 0.9711 | -2.4% |
| 1964 | 0.9577 | -1.4% |
| 1965 | 0.8985 | -6.2% |
| 1966 | 0.8547 | -4.9% |
| 1967 | 0.928 | +8.6% |
| 1968 | 0.9077 | -2.2% |
| 1969 | 0.8627 | -5.0% |
| 1970 | 0.8097 | -6.1% |
| 1971 | 0.5611 | -30.7% |
| 1972 | 0.9744 | +73.7% |
| 1973 | 0.8674 | -11.0% |
| 1974 | 0.6251 | -27.9% |
| 1975 | 0.6127 | -2.0% |
| 1976 | 0.8388 | +36.9% |
| 1977 | 0.673 | -19.8% |
| 1978 | 0.7071 | +5.1% |
| 1979 | 0.6624 | -6.3% |
| 1980 | 0.7581 | +14.4% |
| 1981 | 0.763 | +0.6% |
| 1982 | 0.5823 | -23.7% |
| 1983 | 0.5998 | +3.0% |
| 1984 | 0.483 | -19.5% |
| 1985 | 0.4509 | -6.6% |
| 1986 | 0.4673 | +3.6% |
| 1987 | 0.4216 | -9.8% |
| 1988 | 0.4042 | -4.1% |
| 1989 | 0.4083 | +1.0% |
| 1990 | 0.411 | +0.7% |
| 1991 | 0.4339 | +5.6% |
| 1992 | 0.4186 | -3.5% |
| 1993 | 0.4041 | -3.5% |
| 1994 | 0.4053 | +0.3% |
| 1995 | 0.4524 | +11.6% |
| 1996 | 0.4832 | +6.8% |
| 1997 | 0.4518 | -6.5% |
| 1998 | 0.463 | +2.5% |
| 1999 | 0.4933 | +6.5% |
| 2000 | 0.4945 | +0.3% |
| 2001 | 0.4481 | -9.4% |
| 2002 | 0.4286 | -4.4% |
| 2003 | 0.4073 | -5.0% |
| 2004 | 0.3735 | -8.3% |
| 2005 | 0.3699 | -1.0% |
| 2006 | 0.368 | -0.5% |
| 2007 | 0.3687 | +0.2% |
| 2008 | 0.3765 | +2.1% |
| 2009 | 0.4059 | +7.8% |
| 2010 | 0.4191 | +3.3% |
| 2011 | 0.4149 | -1.0% |
| 2012 | 0.4246 | +2.3% |
| 2013 | 0.4211 | -0.8% |
| 2014 | 0.5966 | +41.7% |
| 2015 | 0.4789 | -19.7% |
| 2016 | 0.4545 | -5.1% |
| 2017 | 0.3658 | -19.5% |
| 2018 | 0.3607 | -1.4% |
| 2019 | 0.3272 | -9.3% |
| 2020 | 0.2739 | -16.3% |
| 2021 | 0.2885 | +5.3% |
| 2022 | 0.2732 | -5.3% |
| 2023 | 0.2389 | -12.5% |
Saudi Arabia compared with similar countries
- Saudi Arabia's 0.2389 is below the median for high income countries, which is 0.5062, 47% of the median. (53 countries reporting)
- Saudi Arabia's 0.2389 is above the median for Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan, which is 0.2216, 1.1× the median. (22 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in Saudi Arabia 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | +73.7% | 0.5611 | 0.9744 |
| 2014 | +41.7% | 0.4211 | 0.5966 |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 0.9306 | 0.8547 | 1 | 9 |
| 1970s | 0.7332 | 0.5611 | 0.9744 | 10 |
| 1980s | 0.5339 | 0.4042 | 0.763 | 10 |
| 1990s | 0.4417 | 0.4041 | 0.4933 | 10 |
| 2000s | 0.4041 | 0.368 | 0.4945 | 10 |
| 2010s | 0.4264 | 0.3272 | 0.5966 | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.2686 | 0.2389 | 0.2885 | 4 |
Countries ranked near Saudi Arabia
More reference data data for Saudi Arabia
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 0.1847 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Manure left on Pasture 1.4 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 2.44 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 0.1771 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Agricultural Soils 2.44 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 0.6194 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure Management 0.2207 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure left on Pasture 6.07 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 10.64 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 0.9641 (2050)
Frequently asked questions
- What is arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in Saudi Arabia?
- Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in Saudi Arabia was 0.2389 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 Saudi Arabia?
- The highest recorded value was 1 in 1961.
- What is the lowest arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops recorded in Saudi Arabia?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.2389 in 2023.
- How does Saudi Arabia rank for arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops?
- Saudi Arabia ranks 124th out of 163 countries with data for 2023.
- Is arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops rising or falling in Saudi Arabia?
- Over the last ten years it is down 43.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Saudi Arabia 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).