Share of land used for permanent meadows and pastures in Ireland

Ireland: Share of land used for permanent meadows and pastures was 54.42 percent in 2023. ▼ Falling

Latest (2023)
54.42 percent
Change on year
down 3.9%
Rank
15th
of 208 regions
All-time high
63.53 percent
in 1974
All-time low
54.42 percent
in 2023
Years of data
63
1961–2023

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

0204060196119922023

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 Ireland stood at 54.42 percent. That is the lowest value across all 63 years on record.

The figure is down 3.9% on the previous year and down 6.3% over ten years.

Over the whole period, share of land used for permanent meadows and pastures in Ireland peaked at 63.53 percent in 1974 and was at its lowest, 54.42 percent, in 2023.

Ireland ranks 15th of 208 regions on this measure, in the top 10%.

The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 63 years of available data.

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1960s 59.89 percent 56.66 percent 62.38 percent 9
1970s 63.11 percent 61.82 percent 63.53 percent 10
1980s 63.35 percent 61.83 percent 63.53 percent 10
1990s 57.9 percent 56.81 percent 60.09 percent 10
2000s 56.54 percent 54.89 percent 60.11 percent 10
2010s 58.67 percent 57.72 percent 59.91 percent 10
2020s 56.68 percent 54.42 percent 59.04 percent 4

Countries ranked near Ireland

  1. 12 Madagascar 64.1 percent compare
  2. 13 Eswatini 58.14 percent compare
  3. 14 Eritrea 56.94 percent compare
  4. 16 Sudan 48.96 percent compare
  5. 17 Uzbekistan 47.92 percent compare
  6. 18 Morocco 47.05 percent compare

See the full ranking of 210 places →

More reference data data for Ireland

All data for Ireland →

Frequently asked questions

What is share of land used for permanent meadows and pastures in Ireland?
Share of land used for permanent meadows and pastures in Ireland was 54.42 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 Ireland?
The highest recorded value was 63.53 percent in 1974.
What is the lowest share of land used for permanent meadows and pastures recorded in Ireland?
The lowest recorded value was 54.42 percent in 2023.
How does Ireland rank for share of land used for permanent meadows and pastures?
Ireland ranks 15th out of 208 regions with data for 2023.
Is share of land used for permanent meadows and pastures rising or falling in Ireland?
Over the last ten years it is down 6.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
Where does this Ireland 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).