Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in South Africa
South Africa: Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops was 0.2729 in 2023. ▼ Falling
Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in South Africa, 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 South Africa is 0.2729, measured in 2023. That is the lowest value across all 63 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 1.2% on the previous year and down 20.7% over ten years.
Over the whole period, arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in South Africa peaked at 1 in 1961 and was at its lowest, 0.2729, in 2023.
That places South Africa 115th 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.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 0.8838 | 0.6377 | 1 | 9 |
| 1970s | 0.6293 | 0.541 | 0.7873 | 10 |
| 1980s | 0.5371 | 0.445 | 0.6945 | 10 |
| 1990s | 0.5384 | 0.4796 | 0.7122 | 10 |
| 2000s | 0.4398 | 0.3809 | 0.4905 | 10 |
| 2010s | 0.346 | 0.2983 | 0.3908 | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.2816 | 0.2729 | 0.2938 | 4 |
Countries ranked near South Africa
More reference data data for South Africa
- Spring temperature anomalies 0.191 °C (2026)
- Summer temperature anomalies 1.36 °C (2026)
- Temperature anomalies by month 0.6318 °C (2026)
- Universal right to vote in practice 2 (2025)
- Autumn temperature anomalies 1.18 °C (2025)
- Winter temperature anomalies 0.2153 °C (2025)
- Consumer price index 209.92 2010 = 100 (2025)
- Universal right to vote 2 (2025)
- Competitive elections 1 (2025)
- Men's universal right to vote 1 (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in South Africa?
- Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops in South Africa was 0.2729 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 South Africa?
- The highest recorded value was 1 in 1961.
- What is the lowest arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops recorded in South Africa?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.2729 in 2023.
- How does South Africa rank for arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops?
- South Africa ranks 115th out of 163 countries with data for 2023.
- Is arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops rising or falling in South Africa?
- Over the last ten years it is down 20.7%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this South Africa 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).