Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade in Botswana
Botswana: Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade was -0.1% in 2023. ◆ Volatile
Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade in Botswana, 1971–2023
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
In 2023, is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade in Botswana stood at -0.1%.
The figure is up 20.0% on the previous year and down 123.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade in Botswana peaked at 0.7% in 2014 and was at its lowest, -0.7%, in 1998.
That places Botswana 136th out of 225 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the middle of the range.
The series is highly variable year to year, so single readings are best treated with caution.
Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade in Botswana, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1971 | 0.0% | — |
| 1972 | 0.0% | +100.0% |
| 1973 | 0.0% | +0.0% |
| 1974 | 0.0% | +0.0% |
| 1975 | 0.0% | -50.0% |
| 1976 | 0.0% | +0.0% |
| 1977 | 0.0% | +0.0% |
| 1978 | 0.0% | +0.0% |
| 1979 | 0.0% | +200.0% |
| 1980 | 0.0% | +0.0% |
| 1981 | 0.0% | +0.0% |
| 1982 | 0.0% | +33.3% |
| 1983 | 0.0% | +0.0% |
| 1984 | 0.0% | +0.0% |
| 1985 | 0.0% | +50.0% |
| 1986 | 0.0% | +0.0% |
| 1987 | 0.0% | +33.3% |
| 1988 | 0.0% | +0.0% |
| 1989 | 0.0% | +37.5% |
| 1990 | 0.1% | +54.5% |
| 1991 | -0.4% | -705.9% |
| 1992 | -0.6% | +50.5% |
| 1993 | -0.2% | -64.5% |
| 1994 | -0.0% | -81.8% |
| 1995 | -0.2% | +520.0% |
| 1996 | -0.2% | -0.0% |
| 1997 | -0.4% | +75.8% |
| 1998 | -0.7% | +64.2% |
| 1999 | -0.7% | -2.8% |
| 2000 | -0.3% | -59.8% |
| 2001 | -0.4% | +43.5% |
| 2002 | -0.0% | -95.0% |
| 2003 | -0.6% | +2988.1% |
| 2004 | -0.7% | +8.8% |
| 2005 | -0.5% | -22.3% |
| 2006 | -0.6% | +9.2% |
| 2007 | -0.5% | -18.0% |
| 2008 | 0.2% | -142.9% |
| 2009 | 0.3% | +53.9% |
| 2010 | -0.3% | -216.4% |
| 2011 | 0.5% | -239.7% |
| 2012 | 0.2% | -67.3% |
| 2013 | 0.3% | +110.2% |
| 2014 | 0.7% | +105.6% |
| 2015 | 0.2% | -73.7% |
| 2016 | 0.2% | +25.8% |
| 2017 | 0.3% | +32.5% |
| 2018 | -0.1% | -124.9% |
| 2019 | -0.2% | +188.2% |
| 2020 | 0.0% | -101.8% |
| 2021 | -0.2% | -6483.9% |
| 2022 | -0.1% | -60.9% |
| 2023 | -0.1% | -20.0% |
Botswana compared with similar countries
- Botswana's -0.1% is below the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 0.9%. (46 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade in Botswana changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | -6483.9% | 0.0% | -0.2% |
| 2003 | -2988.1% | -0.0% | -0.6% |
| 1991 | -705.9% | 0.1% | -0.4% |
| 1995 | -520.0% | -0.0% | -0.2% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 9 |
| 1980s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 10 |
| 1990s | -0.3% | -0.7% | 0.1% | 10 |
| 2000s | -0.3% | -0.7% | 0.3% | 10 |
| 2010s | 0.2% | -0.3% | 0.7% | 10 |
| 2020s | -0.1% | -0.2% | 0.0% | 4 |
Countries ranked near Botswana
More agriculture & rural data for Botswana
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$), annual 4.45 % change on previous year (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$), per 0.0178 current US$ per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$), per 138.54 current US$ per person (2025)
- Rural population, annual growth rate 0.0839 % change on previous year (2025)
- Rural population, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Rural population, per capita 0.3204 units per person (2025)
- Share of GDP from agriculture 1.8% (2025)
- Agriculture as a share of GDP vs. GDP per capita 1.8% (2025)
- Agricultural raw materials exports 0.0% (2023)
- Agricultural raw materials imports 0.8% (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade in Botswana?
- Is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade in Botswana was -0.1% 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 is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade recorded in Botswana?
- The highest recorded value was 0.7% in 2014.
- What is the lowest is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade recorded in Botswana?
- The lowest recorded value was -0.7% in 1998.
- How does Botswana rank for is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade?
- Botswana ranks 136th out of 225 countries with data for 2023.
- Is is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade rising or falling in Botswana?
- Over the last ten years it is down 123.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is volatile.
- Where does this Botswana 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 Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 53 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Percentage change in surface area devoted to agriculture with respect to 10 years before. Negative values imply that surface area has decreased with respect to the previous decade. This data is used to assess which countries may have already peaked in their agricultural land use.