If we combine pastures used for grazing with land used to grow crops for animal feed, livestock accounts for 77% of global farming land. There is also a highly unequal distribution of land use between livestock and crops for human consumption. This leaves only 37% for forests 11% as shrubs and grasslands 1% as freshwater coverage and the remaining 1% – a much smaller share than many suspect – is built-up urban area which includes cities, towns, villages, roads and other human infrastructure. Half of all habitable land is used for agriculture. 1 This leaves what we call ‘habitable land’. 10% of the world is covered by glaciers, and a further 19% is barren land – deserts, dry salt flats, beaches, sand dunes, and exposed rocks. In the visualization we see the breakdown of global land area today. If we rewind 1000 years, it is estimated that only 4 million square kilometers – less than 4% of the world’s ice-free and non-barren land area was used for farming.

Over the last few centuries, this has changed dramatically: wild habitats have been squeezed out by turning it into agricultural land.

Share of world regions with land use presentįor much of human history, most of the world’s land was wilderness: forests, grasslands and shrubbery dominated its landscapes.

Share of rural land area where the elevation is 5 meters or less.

Share of land defined as natural habitat.

Land use of foods per 1000 kilocalories.

Is agricultural land expanding: the change over the prior decade.

How much global land is used as pasture for livestock?.

How much cropland has the world spared due to increases in crop yields?.

Has the world passed peak agricultural land?.

Extent of foraging, hunting and gathering.

Change in cereal production, yield, land use and population.

Area of land needed to meet global vegetable oil demand.

Arable land needed to produce a fixed quantity of crops.

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