Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade in Spain
Spain: Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade was -7.3% in 2023. ◆ Volatile
Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade in Spain, 1971–2023
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
The most recent figure for is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade in Spain is -7.3%, measured in 2023.
That represents a change of down 609.1% on the previous year and up 11.6% over ten years.
Over the whole period, is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade in Spain peaked at -1.0% in 2022 and was at its lowest, -8.9%, in 2015.
Spain ranks 199th of 225 countries on this measure, in the bottom quarter.
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 Spain, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1971 | -1.6% | — |
| 1972 | -2.0% | +21.6% |
| 1973 | -2.6% | +29.4% |
| 1974 | -2.1% | -20.3% |
| 1975 | -2.4% | +14.7% |
| 1976 | -2.0% | -15.8% |
| 1977 | -2.4% | +22.9% |
| 1978 | -2.1% | -13.4% |
| 1979 | -3.6% | +70.2% |
| 1980 | -2.7% | -23.9% |
| 1981 | -4.5% | +64.9% |
| 1982 | -4.2% | -6.5% |
| 1983 | -4.6% | +9.1% |
| 1984 | -4.5% | -2.0% |
| 1985 | -3.8% | -16.2% |
| 1986 | -2.9% | -24.1% |
| 1987 | -3.1% | +8.9% |
| 1988 | -2.9% | -8.7% |
| 1989 | -2.1% | -27.0% |
| 1990 | -2.5% | +17.6% |
| 1991 | -2.7% | +9.1% |
| 1992 | -2.9% | +9.3% |
| 1993 | -2.5% | -15.8% |
| 1994 | -1.5% | -41.0% |
| 1995 | -3.2% | +122.5% |
| 1996 | -1.5% | -52.4% |
| 1997 | -1.8% | +15.1% |
| 1998 | -2.0% | +14.5% |
| 1999 | -3.0% | +48.3% |
| 2000 | -2.3% | -22.9% |
| 2001 | -2.8% | +20.9% |
| 2002 | -2.8% | +1.4% |
| 2003 | -2.9% | +3.2% |
| 2004 | -3.7% | +25.7% |
| 2005 | -1.9% | -49.3% |
| 2006 | -5.1% | +171.1% |
| 2007 | -6.8% | +35.0% |
| 2008 | -6.1% | -11.3% |
| 2009 | -6.1% | +0.2% |
| 2010 | -7.5% | +22.9% |
| 2011 | -8.5% | +13.8% |
| 2012 | -8.4% | -0.8% |
| 2013 | -8.3% | -1.4% |
| 2014 | -8.6% | +3.3% |
| 2015 | -8.9% | +3.5% |
| 2016 | -8.2% | -7.5% |
| 2017 | -6.1% | -25.6% |
| 2018 | -7.0% | +14.1% |
| 2019 | -6.3% | -9.4% |
| 2020 | -5.1% | -19.2% |
| 2021 | -2.9% | -42.9% |
| 2022 | -1.0% | -64.4% |
| 2023 | -7.3% | +609.1% |
Spain compared with similar countries
- Spain's -7.3% is below the median for high income countries, which is -0.5%, 14.1× the median. (79 countries reporting)
- Spain's -7.3% is below the median for Europe & Central Asia, which is -0.7%, 11.3× the median. (54 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade in Spain 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | -609.1% | -1.0% | -7.3% |
| 2006 | -171.1% | -1.9% | -5.1% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | -2.3% | -3.6% | -1.6% | 9 |
| 1980s | -3.5% | -4.6% | -2.1% | 10 |
| 1990s | -2.4% | -3.2% | -1.5% | 10 |
| 2000s | -4.0% | -6.8% | -1.9% | 10 |
| 2010s | -7.8% | -8.9% | -6.1% | 10 |
| 2020s | -4.1% | -7.3% | -1.0% | 4 |
Countries ranked near Spain
More agriculture & rural data for Spain
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$), annual 7.64 % change on previous year (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$), per 0.0268 current US$ per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$), per 1,036 current US$ per person (2025)
- Rural population, annual growth rate 0.0113 % change on previous year (2025)
- Rural population, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Rural population, per capita 0.1949 units per person (2025)
- Share of GDP from agriculture 2.7% (2025)
- Agriculture as a share of GDP vs. GDP per capita 2.7% (2025)
- Agricultural raw materials exports 0.9% (2024)
- Agricultural raw materials imports 1.0% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade in Spain?
- Is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade in Spain was -7.3% 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 Spain?
- The highest recorded value was -1.0% in 2022.
- What is the lowest is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade recorded in Spain?
- The lowest recorded value was -8.9% in 2015.
- How does Spain rank for is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade?
- Spain ranks 199th out of 225 countries with data for 2023.
- Is is agricultural land expanding? change over the prior decade rising or falling in Spain?
- Over the last ten years it is up 11.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is volatile.
- Where does this Spain 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.