Crop yields in China
China: Crop yields was 5.94 tonnes per hectare in 2024. ▲ Rising
Crop yields in China, 1961–2024
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in tonnes per hectare.
Analysis
In 2024, crop yields in China stood at 5.94 tonnes per hectare. That is the highest value across all 64 years on record.
That represents a change of up 2.7% on the previous year and up 13.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, crop yields in China peaked at 5.94 tonnes per hectare in 2024 and was at its lowest, 0.5578 tonnes per hectare, in 1961.
That places China 16th out of 125 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 64 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 0.9174 tonnes per hectare | 0.5578 tonnes per hectare | 1.13 tonnes per hectare | 9 |
| 1970s | 1.55 tonnes per hectare | 1.15 tonnes per hectare | 2.14 tonnes per hectare | 10 |
| 1980s | 2.72 tonnes per hectare | 1.89 tonnes per hectare | 3.04 tonnes per hectare | 10 |
| 1990s | 3.56 tonnes per hectare | 3.1 tonnes per hectare | 4.1 tonnes per hectare | 10 |
| 2000s | 4.25 tonnes per hectare | 3.74 tonnes per hectare | 4.76 tonnes per hectare | 10 |
| 2010s | 5.22 tonnes per hectare | 4.75 tonnes per hectare | 5.63 tonnes per hectare | 10 |
| 2020s | 5.83 tonnes per hectare | 5.74 tonnes per hectare | 5.94 tonnes per hectare | 5 |
Countries ranked near China
More agriculture & rural data for China
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 1.30 trillion current US$ (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 6.7% (2025)
- Rural population 473.41 million (2025)
- Rural population growth -1.5% (2025)
- Rural population 33.7% (2025)
- Agricultural raw materials imports 2.7% (2024)
- Agricultural raw materials exports 0.3% (2024)
- Agriculture as a share of GDP vs. GDP per capita 6.7% (2025)
- Share of GDP from agriculture 6.7% (2025)
- Land under cereal production 99.99 million hectares (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is crop yields in China?
- Crop yields in China was 5.94 tonnes per hectare in 2024, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest crop yields recorded in China?
- The highest recorded value was 5.94 tonnes per hectare in 2024.
- What is the lowest crop yields recorded in China?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.5578 tonnes per hectare in 1961.
- How does China rank for crop yields?
- China ranks 16th out of 125 countries with data for 2024.
- Is crop yields rising or falling in China?
- Over the last ten years it is up 13.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this China 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 Crop yields. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 64 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Yield is the amount produced per unit of land used, measured in tonnes per hectare.