Share of land used for permanent meadows and pastures in Costa Rica

Costa Rica: Share of land used for permanent meadows and pastures was 22.48 percent in 2023. ▼ Falling

Latest (2023)
22.48 percent
Change on year
unchanged
World rank
72nd
of 208 countries
All-time high
43.67 percent
in 1984
All-time low
17.92 percent
in 1961
Years of data
63
1961–2023

Share of land used for permanent meadows and pastures in Costa Rica, 1961–2023

010203040196119922023

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in percent.

Analysis

In 2023, share of land used for permanent meadows and pastures in Costa Rica stood at 22.48 percent.

That represents a change of down 8.2% over ten years.

Over the whole period, share of land used for permanent meadows and pastures in Costa Rica peaked at 43.67 percent in 1984 and was at its lowest, 17.92 percent, in 1961.

That places Costa Rica 72nd out of 208 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

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1960s 21.05 percent 17.92 percent 25.46 percent 9
1970s 31.7 percent 26.69 percent 37.99 percent 10
1980s 40.59 percent 36.58 percent 43.67 percent 10
1990s 30.41 percent 27.18 percent 33.07 percent 10
2000s 25.82 percent 25.19 percent 26.44 percent 10
2010s 24.08 percent 23.08 percent 25.05 percent 10
2020s 22.63 percent 22.48 percent 22.88 percent 4

Countries ranked near Costa Rica

  1. 69 Ghana 22.79 percent compare
  2. 70 Niger 22.72 percent compare
  3. 71 Netherlands 22.51 percent compare
  4. 73 Burkina Faso 21.93 percent compare
  5. 75 Jamaica 21.14 percent compare

See the full ranking of 210 places →

More reference data data for Costa Rica

All data for Costa Rica →

Frequently asked questions

What is share of land used for permanent meadows and pastures in Costa Rica?
Share of land used for permanent meadows and pastures in Costa Rica was 22.48 percent in 2023, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
What is the highest share of land used for permanent meadows and pastures recorded in Costa Rica?
The highest recorded value was 43.67 percent in 1984.
What is the lowest share of land used for permanent meadows and pastures recorded in Costa Rica?
The lowest recorded value was 17.92 percent in 1961.
How does Costa Rica rank for share of land used for permanent meadows and pastures?
Costa Rica ranks 72nd out of 208 countries with data for 2023.
Is share of land used for permanent meadows and pastures rising or falling in Costa Rica?
Over the last ten years it is down 8.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
Where does this Costa Rica data come from?
The figures come from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Share of land used for permanent meadows and pastures. 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

Indicator
Share of land used for permanent meadows and pastures
Unit
percent
Source
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
210 places, 12,094 data points, 1961–2023
Last refreshed

Permanent meadows and pastures are areas used permanently (five years or more) for herbaceous forage crops, either cultivated or growing wild (wild prairie or grazing land).