Agricultural land use in Japan
Japan: Agricultural land use was 4.61 million hectares in 2023. ▼ Falling
Agricultural land use in Japan, 1961–2023
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in hectares.
Analysis
Japan recorded 4.61 million hectares for agricultural land use in 2023. That is the lowest value across all 63 years on record.
That represents a change of down 0.6% on the previous year and down 5.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, agricultural land use in Japan peaked at 7.12 million hectares in 1962 and was at its lowest, 4.61 million hectares, in 2023.
That places Japan 93rd out of 226 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 | 6.94 million hectares | 6.65 million hectares | 7.12 million hectares | 9 |
| 1970s | 6.37 million hectares | 6.18 million hectares | 6.70 million hectares | 10 |
| 1980s | 6.02 million hectares | 5.88 million hectares | 6.15 million hectares | 10 |
| 1990s | 5.59 million hectares | 5.32 million hectares | 5.83 million hectares | 10 |
| 2000s | 5.10 million hectares | 4.97 million hectares | 5.26 million hectares | 10 |
| 2010s | 4.84 million hectares | 4.71 million hectares | 4.95 million hectares | 10 |
| 2020s | 4.65 million hectares | 4.61 million hectares | 4.68 million hectares | 4 |
Countries ranked near Japan
More agriculture & rural data for Japan
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 40.15 billion current US$ (2024)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 1.0% (2024)
- Rural population 9.50 million (2025)
- Rural population growth -1.9% (2025)
- Rural population 7.7% (2025)
- Agricultural raw materials imports 1.6% (2025)
- Agricultural raw materials exports 0.5% (2025)
- Agriculture as a share of GDP vs. GDP per capita 1.0% (2024)
- Share of GDP from agriculture 1.0% (2024)
- Land under cereal production 1.84 million hectares (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is agricultural land use in Japan?
- Agricultural land use in Japan was 4.61 million hectares 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 agricultural land use recorded in Japan?
- The highest recorded value was 7.12 million hectares in 1962.
- What is the lowest agricultural land use recorded in Japan?
- The lowest recorded value was 4.61 million hectares in 2023.
- How does Japan rank for agricultural land use?
- Japan ranks 93rd out of 226 countries with data for 2023.
- Is agricultural land use rising or falling in Japan?
- Over the last ten years it is down 5.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Japan 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 Agricultural land use. 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
Land used for cultivation of crops and animal husbandry. The total of areas under cropland and permanent meadows and pastures.