Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade in Kenya
Kenya: Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade was 1.5% in 2023. ◆ Volatile
Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade in Kenya, 1971–2023
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
Kenya recorded 1.5% for is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade in 2023.
That represents a change of down 9.6% on the previous year and down 72.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade in Kenya peaked at 7.1% in 1994 and was at its lowest, -0.9%, in 2004.
Kenya ranks 58th of 225 countries on this measure, 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 Kenya, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1971 | 0.3% | — |
| 1972 | 0.3% | -0.0% |
| 1973 | 0.3% | -0.0% |
| 1974 | 0.3% | -0.0% |
| 1975 | 2.0% | +520.3% |
| 1976 | 2.0% | -0.5% |
| 1977 | 2.0% | -1.3% |
| 1978 | 1.5% | -25.8% |
| 1979 | 1.5% | -0.0% |
| 1980 | 1.5% | -0.0% |
| 1981 | 1.5% | -0.0% |
| 1982 | 1.5% | -0.0% |
| 1983 | 1.5% | -0.0% |
| 1984 | 1.2% | -20.1% |
| 1985 | 2.8% | +136.4% |
| 1986 | 2.9% | +2.9% |
| 1987 | 3.2% | +9.2% |
| 1988 | 4.6% | +44.9% |
| 1989 | 6.1% | +33.5% |
| 1990 | 5.0% | -18.2% |
| 1991 | 5.4% | +8.4% |
| 1992 | 6.2% | +14.1% |
| 1993 | 5.3% | -14.8% |
| 1994 | 7.1% | +35.1% |
| 1995 | 3.6% | -49.4% |
| 1996 | 0.6% | -83.1% |
| 1997 | 0.9% | +50.1% |
| 1998 | -0.5% | -149.9% |
| 1999 | -0.3% | -23.4% |
| 2000 | -0.1% | -82.4% |
| 2001 | -0.1% | +42.0% |
| 2002 | -0.9% | +945.8% |
| 2003 | 0.1% | -113.0% |
| 2004 | -0.9% | -871.0% |
| 2005 | -0.9% | -6.3% |
| 2006 | 2.2% | -352.8% |
| 2007 | 1.6% | -24.5% |
| 2008 | 2.2% | +35.0% |
| 2009 | 1.4% | -35.7% |
| 2010 | 2.5% | +72.3% |
| 2011 | 4.1% | +65.6% |
| 2012 | 5.4% | +33.1% |
| 2013 | 5.5% | +0.7% |
| 2014 | 4.9% | -10.2% |
| 2015 | 4.8% | -1.4% |
| 2016 | 5.2% | +7.6% |
| 2017 | 3.9% | -24.0% |
| 2018 | 5.5% | +40.4% |
| 2019 | 5.0% | -10.4% |
| 2020 | 4.8% | -4.2% |
| 2021 | 2.7% | -42.3% |
| 2022 | 1.7% | -38.8% |
| 2023 | 1.5% | -9.6% |
Kenya compared with similar countries
- Kenya's 1.5% is above the median for lower middle income countries, which is 1.1%, 1.3× the median. (47 countries reporting)
- Kenya's 1.5% is above the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 0.9%, 1.7× the median. (46 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade in Kenya 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | -945.8% | -0.1% | -0.9% |
| 2004 | -871.0% | 0.1% | -0.9% |
| 1975 | +520.3% | 0.3% | 2.0% |
| 2006 | +352.8% | -0.9% | 2.2% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2.0% | 9 |
| 1980s | 2.7% | 1.2% | 6.1% | 10 |
| 1990s | 3.3% | -0.5% | 7.1% | 10 |
| 2000s | 0.5% | -0.9% | 2.2% | 10 |
| 2010s | 4.7% | 2.5% | 5.5% | 10 |
| 2020s | 2.7% | 1.5% | 4.8% | 4 |
Countries ranked near Kenya
More agriculture & rural data for Kenya
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$), annual 16.52 % change on previous year (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$), per 0.2316 current US$ per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$), per 547.24 current US$ per person (2025)
- Rural population, annual growth rate 1.47 % change on previous year (2025)
- Rural population, per unit of GDP 0.0003 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Rural population, per capita 0.6779 units per person (2025)
- Share of GDP from agriculture 23.2% (2025)
- Agriculture as a share of GDP vs. GDP per capita 23.2% (2025)
- Agricultural raw materials exports 12.9% (2024)
- Agricultural raw materials imports 2.0% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade in Kenya?
- Is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade in Kenya was 1.5% 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 Kenya?
- The highest recorded value was 7.1% in 1994.
- What is the lowest is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade recorded in Kenya?
- The lowest recorded value was -0.9% in 2004.
- How does Kenya rank for is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade?
- Kenya ranks 58th out of 225 countries with data for 2023.
- Is is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade rising or falling in Kenya?
- Over the last ten years it is down 72.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is volatile.
- Where does this Kenya 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.