Drained organic soils — Area in South Africa

South Africa: Drained organic soils — Area was 19,706 ha in 2024. ▲ Rising

Latest (2024)
19,706 ha
Change on year
unchanged
World rank
55th
of 221 countries
All-time high
19,993 ha
in 2013
All-time low
16,471 ha
in 1990
Years of data
35
1990–2024

Drained organic soils — Area in South Africa, 1990–2024

05.0k10.0k15.0k20.0k1990200720241990: 16.5k ha1991: 16.5k ha1992: 16.5k ha1993: 16.5k ha1994: 16.5k ha1995: 16.6k ha1996: 16.8k ha1997: 16.9k ha1998: 17.4k ha1999: 18.3k ha2000: 18.5k ha2001: 18.5k ha2002: 19.0k ha2003: 19.8k ha2004: 19.9k ha2005: 19.9k ha2006: 19.9k ha2007: 19.9k ha2008: 20.0k ha2009: 20.0k ha2010: 20.0k ha2011: 20.0k ha2012: 20.0k ha2013: 20.0k ha2014: 20.0k ha2015: 20.0k ha2016: 20.0k ha2017: 20.0k ha2018: 20.0k ha2019: 19.7k ha2020: 19.7k ha2021: 19.7k ha2022: 19.7k ha2023: 19.7k ha2024: 19.7k ha

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in ha.

Analysis

In 2024, drained organic soils — area in South Africa stood at 19,706 ha.

Compared with earlier readings it is down 1.4% over ten years.

Over the whole period, drained organic soils — area in South Africa peaked at 19,993 ha in 2013 and was at its lowest, 16,471 ha, in 1990.

South Africa ranks 55th of 221 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 35 years of available data.

Drained organic soils — Area in South Africa, year by year

Annual values for Drained organic soils — Area in South Africa, 1990 to 2024.
Year ha Change
1990 16,471 ha
1991 16,471 ha +0.0%
1992 16,471 ha +0.0%
1993 16,471 ha +0.0%
1994 16,471 ha +0.0%
1995 16,611 ha +0.8%
1996 16,751 ha +0.8%
1997 16,938 ha +1.1%
1998 17,450 ha +3.0%
1999 18,280 ha +4.8%
2000 18,460 ha +1.0%
2001 18,536 ha +0.4%
2002 18,967 ha +2.3%
2003 19,770 ha +4.2%
2004 19,877 ha +0.5%
2005 19,915 ha +0.2%
2006 19,927 ha +0.1%
2007 19,938 ha +0.1%
2008 19,974 ha +0.2%
2009 19,980 ha +0.0%
2010 19,981 ha +0.0%
2011 19,986 ha +0.0%
2012 19,986 ha +0.0%
2013 19,993 ha +0.0%
2014 19,988 ha -0.0%
2015 19,986 ha -0.0%
2016 19,974 ha -0.1%
2017 19,974 ha +0.0%
2018 19,980 ha +0.0%
2019 19,721 ha -1.3%
2020 19,710 ha -0.1%
2021 19,698 ha -0.1%
2022 19,706 ha +0.0%
2023 19,706 ha +0.0%
2024 19,706 ha +0.0%

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1990s 16,839 ha 16,471 ha 18,280 ha 10
2000s 19,534 ha 18,460 ha 19,980 ha 10
2010s 19,957 ha 19,721 ha 19,993 ha 10
2020s 19,706 ha 19,698 ha 19,710 ha 5

Countries ranked near South Africa

  1. 52 Sri Lanka 27,518 ha compare
  2. 53 Italy 24,285 ha compare
  3. 54 Thailand 22,254 ha compare
  4. 56 Romania 19,363 ha compare
  5. 57 Spain 16,831 ha compare
  6. 58 Malawi 16,536 ha compare

See the full ranking of 274 places →

More climate change data for South Africa

All data for South Africa →

Frequently asked questions

What is drained organic soils — area in South Africa?
Drained organic soils — area in South Africa was 19,706 ha in 2024, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
What is the highest drained organic soils — area recorded in South Africa?
The highest recorded value was 19,993 ha in 2013.
What is the lowest drained organic soils — area recorded in South Africa?
The lowest recorded value was 16,471 ha in 1990.
How does South Africa rank for drained organic soils — area?
South Africa ranks 55th out of 221 countries with data for 2024.
Is drained organic soils — area rising or falling in South Africa?
Over the last ten years it is down 1.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this South Africa data come from?
The figures come from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, published as part of Drained organic soils — Area. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 35 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO).

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Drained organic soils — Area in South Africa. Statizoid, drawing on Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Retrieved 28 August 2026, from https://climate.statizoid.com/stat/drained-organic-soils-area-fao-tier-1/south-africa/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://climate.statizoid.com/stat/drained-organic-soils-area-fao-tier-1/south-africa/">Drained organic soils — Area in South Africa</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Drained organic soils — Area
Unit
ha
Source
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Licence
CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO)
Coverage
274 places, 9,364 data points, 1990–2024
Last refreshed

The FAOSTAT domain on Emissions from drained organic soils consists of nitrous oxide (N2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions generated from the mineralization and oxidation of organic matter in organic soils that are drained for agricultural activities.