Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade in Canada
Canada: Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade was -1.7% in 2023. ◆ Volatile
Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade in Canada, 1971–2023
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
Canada recorded -1.7% for is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade in 2023.
That represents a change of down 39.2% on the previous year and up 74.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade in Canada peaked at 1.9% in 1971 and was at its lowest, -7.0%, in 2012.
That places Canada 162nd 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 Canada, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1971 | 1.9% | — |
| 1972 | 1.2% | -35.2% |
| 1973 | 0.6% | -53.6% |
| 1974 | -0.1% | -113.8% |
| 1975 | -0.7% | +813.7% |
| 1976 | -0.9% | +17.6% |
| 1977 | -1.2% | +44.4% |
| 1978 | -1.6% | +31.0% |
| 1979 | -2.0% | +23.8% |
| 1980 | -2.4% | +19.3% |
| 1981 | -2.7% | +15.7% |
| 1982 | -2.9% | +6.0% |
| 1983 | -3.1% | +5.7% |
| 1984 | -3.2% | +5.4% |
| 1985 | -3.4% | +5.1% |
| 1986 | -3.6% | +4.9% |
| 1987 | -2.8% | -21.7% |
| 1988 | -2.0% | -28.0% |
| 1989 | -1.2% | -39.4% |
| 1990 | -0.4% | -65.9% |
| 1991 | 0.4% | -195.2% |
| 1992 | 0.4% | +4.1% |
| 1993 | 0.4% | +4.1% |
| 1994 | 0.4% | +3.9% |
| 1995 | 0.5% | +3.8% |
| 1996 | 0.5% | +3.7% |
| 1997 | 0.3% | -35.3% |
| 1998 | 0.1% | -53.8% |
| 1999 | -0.0% | -115.9% |
| 2000 | -0.2% | +726.9% |
| 2001 | -0.4% | +93.6% |
| 2002 | 1.0% | -378.4% |
| 2003 | 0.9% | -12.2% |
| 2004 | 0.8% | -13.9% |
| 2005 | 0.6% | -16.2% |
| 2006 | -1.0% | -254.1% |
| 2007 | -2.0% | +98.4% |
| 2008 | -3.0% | +49.7% |
| 2009 | -3.9% | +33.2% |
| 2010 | -4.9% | +24.9% |
| 2011 | -5.9% | +20.0% |
| 2012 | -7.0% | +18.2% |
| 2013 | -6.6% | -4.8% |
| 2014 | -6.3% | -5.0% |
| 2015 | -6.0% | -5.4% |
| 2016 | -4.2% | -29.8% |
| 2017 | -3.6% | -14.7% |
| 2018 | -2.6% | -27.2% |
| 2019 | -2.0% | -23.5% |
| 2020 | -2.0% | +0.5% |
| 2021 | -1.2% | -38.4% |
| 2022 | -1.2% | -2.2% |
| 2023 | -1.7% | +39.2% |
Canada compared with similar countries
- Canada's -1.7% is below the median for high income countries, which is -0.5%, 3.2× the median. (79 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade in Canada 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | -813.7% | -0.1% | -0.7% |
| 2000 | -726.9% | -0.0% | -0.2% |
| 2002 | +378.4% | -0.4% | 1.0% |
| 2006 | -254.1% | 0.6% | -1.0% |
| 1991 | +195.2% | -0.4% | 0.4% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | -0.3% | -2.0% | 1.9% | 9 |
| 1980s | -2.7% | -3.6% | -1.2% | 10 |
| 1990s | 0.3% | -0.4% | 0.5% | 10 |
| 2000s | -0.7% | -3.9% | 1.0% | 10 |
| 2010s | -4.9% | -7.0% | -2.0% | 10 |
| 2020s | -1.5% | -2.0% | -1.2% | 4 |
Countries ranked near Canada
More agriculture & rural data for Canada
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$), annual 31.61 % change on previous year (2022)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$), per 0.0193 current US$ per US$ of GDP (2022)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$), per 1,092 current US$ per person (2022)
- Rural population, annual growth rate -0.0803 % change on previous year (2025)
- Rural population, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Rural population, per capita 0.1712 units per person (2025)
- Share of GDP from agriculture 1.9% (2022)
- Agriculture as a share of GDP vs. GDP per capita 1.9% (2022)
- Agricultural raw materials exports 2.9% (2024)
- Agricultural raw materials imports 0.7% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade in Canada?
- Is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade in Canada was -1.7% 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 Canada?
- The highest recorded value was 1.9% in 1971.
- What is the lowest is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade recorded in Canada?
- The lowest recorded value was -7.0% in 2012.
- How does Canada rank for is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade?
- Canada ranks 162nd out of 225 countries with data for 2023.
- Is is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade rising or falling in Canada?
- Over the last ten years it is up 74.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is volatile.
- Where does this Canada 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.