**Source:** [FAOSTAT (2024)](https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/RL), Accessed 2026-08-05. **Dataset:** FAOSTAT **Licence:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), under the [FAO Statistical Database Terms of Use](https://www.fao.org/contact-us/terms/db-terms-of-use/en/). Not to be used to promote a commercial enterprise or to suggest FAO's endorsement. **Citation:** FAO. FAOSTAT. https://www.fao.org/faostat/ Licence: CC-BY-4.0. Data derived from `region-faostatArea-lookup.csv`. See `Geographies/region-faostatArea-lookup.md` for source details. Data is generated as follows: - All values are in 1000 ha, as per source data. - For each date in the original data, the value is compared with the value 20 years previously and the difference between them is calculated. - If the earlier value is missing, then the next nearest, by date, value is taken with the following conditions: - The earlier value must be at least five years earlier, otherwise no lookup value is created. - As a result of the point above, values can only be calculated back to 1966, which is 5 years after the earliest source data - The value is expressed as a 20-year-equivalent change. - A look-back window *longer* than 20 years is scaled *down* to a 20-year equivalent (e.g. a change measured over 25 years is multiplied by 20/25). - A look-back window *shorter* than 20 years is **not** extrapolated upward: the observed change over the available window is used as-is. This is common for `Forest land` and `Other land`, which FAOSTAT only records from 1990, so for source years before ~2010 the full 20-year look-back falls before the first data point. - Previously such windows were scaled *up* by `20 / window` (e.g. a change of -500 over 8 years became -500 * 20/8 = -1250), which amplified short-term fluctuations into implausible jumps in historical land cover (a 5-year window was multiplied by 4). See [issue #2199](https://gitlab.com/hestia-earth/hestia-glossary/-/issues/2199). - The four land types (`Cropland`, `Permanent meadows and pastures`, `Forest land` and `Other land`) partition `Land area`, so their changes must sum to the change in `Land area`, and the values in this lookup are net conversions *between* them: the change in `Land area` itself is removed. A change in a country's reported `Land area` is a re-measurement rather than a conversion, and FAOSTAT books it in `Other land`, its residual category (`Land area - Agriculture - Forest land`); it is removed from `Other land` here for the same reason. - `Forest land` is measured over the same look-back window as the other three land types. FAOSTAT records forest area only from 1990 for most countries, so for source years before ~2010 the window starts before the first data point; the uncovered years are covered by extrapolating the average annual change over the earliest ten reported years (or the whole series, when it is shorter). Where the window falls entirely before 1990 the value is that trend over the length of the window. - Any discrepancy remaining once `Forest land` covers the whole window (that is, the sum of the four changes is not 0) is allocated to `Other land`, as the residual category. This applies only to source years whose window reaches back before the first reported `Forest land` year - up to about 2010 for most countries - since later windows are covered by reported data and balance on their own. - Where no `Forest land` is reported at all (a few small territories), no forest change is derived and the whole discrepancy goes to `Other land`. - If the discrepancy is less than 0.01 (10 ha), no gap-filling is done. - Until 2026-09 a change in `Land area` was instead spread over all four land types in proportion, and the pre-1990 discrepancy was split between `Forest land` and `Other land` in their 1990 proportions. Both charged part of every land-accounting change to forest: Canada's 2021 `Land area` revision of -17,689 kha appeared as a 6,914 kha jump in forest, and Mongolia's 1976 pasture step of 15,254 kha as 7,466 kha of forest *gain*, which collapsed to -104 kha the year the step left the window. See [issue #2322](https://gitlab.com/hestia-earth/hestia-glossary/-/issues/2322). - There remains a discrepancy in FAO Area data for some countries and years after 2010. These data have been excluded from the lookup by the consistency checks as a final step of the process. The source data was generated by applying the following filters: * Countries: All * Element:
NameUnitDefinition
Area1000 haExtent of surface of land or water. Source: FAO Statistics Division
* Items:
NameDefinition
Land areaCountry area excluding area under inland waters and coastal waters.
CroplandLand used for cultivation of crops. The total of areas under ''Arable land'' and ''Permanent crops''.
Arable landLand used for cultivation of crops in rotation with fallow, meadows and pastures within cycles of up to five years. The total of areas under "Temporary crops,'' ''Temporary meadows and pastures,'' and ''Temporary fallow.'' Arable land does not include land that is potentially cultivable but is not cultivated.
Permanent cropsLand cultivated with long-term crops which do not have to be replanted for several years (such as cocoa and coffee), land under trees and shrubs producing flowers (such as roses and jasmine), and nurseries (except those for forest trees, which should be classified under "Forestry"). Permanent meadows and pastures are excluded from Permanent crops.
Permanent meadows and pasturesLand used permanently (five years or more) to grow herbaceous forage crops through cultivation or naturally (wild prairie or grazing land). Permanent meadows and pastures on which trees and shrubs are grown should be recorded under this heading only if the growing of forage crops is the most important use of the area. Measures may be taken to keep or increase productivity of the land (i.e., use of fertilizers, mowing or systematic grazing by domestic animals.) This class includes: • Grazing in wooded areas (agroforestry areas, for example); • Grazing in shrubby zones (heath, maquis, garigue); • Grassland in the plain or low mountain areas used for grazing: land crossed during transhumance where the animals spend a part of the year (approximately 100 days) without returning to the holding in the evening: mountain and subalpine meadows and similar; and steppes and dry meadows used for pasture.
Forest landLand spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than 5 metres and a canopy cover of more than 10 per cent, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ.Excludes land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban land use. Explanatory notes:• Forest land is determined both by the presence of trees and by the absence of other predominant land uses. The trees should be able to reach a minimum height of 5 metres in situ• Includes areas with young trees that have not yet reached but that are expected to reach a canopy cover of 10 per cent and tree height of 5 metres. It also includes areas that are temporarily unstocked owing to clear-cutting as part of a forest management practice or natural disasters, and that are expected to be regenerated within five years. Local conditions may, in exceptional cases, justify the use of a longer time frame• Includes forest roads, firebreaks and other small open areas• May include forest land in national parks, nature reserves and other protected areas, such as those of specific environmental, scientific, historical, cultural orspiritual interest• Includes windbreaks, shelter belts and corridors of trees with an area of more than 0.5 hectares and width of more than 20 metres• Includes abandoned shifting cultivation land with a regeneration of trees that have, or is expected to reach, a canopy cover of 10 per cent and tree height of 5 metres• Includes areas with mangroves in tidal zones, regardless of whether this area is classified as land area or not• Includes areas with bamboo and palms provided that land use, height and canopy cover criteria are met• Some agroforestry systems such as the taungya system, where crops are grown only during the first years of the forest rotation should be classified as forest• Excludes: tree stands in agricultural production systems, such as fruit-tree plantations (→Permanent crops), oil palm plantations, rubber and Christmas trees (→Permanent crops) and agroforestry systems when crops are grown under tree cover
Other landLand area not classified as "Agriculture" and ''Forestry''. It includes SEEA categories ''Land used for aquaculture", ''Built-up and related areas", ''Other uses of land not elsewhere classified", and ''Land not in use".
* Years: 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020