Explore agricultural land, crop productivity, food production, fertilizer use, agricultural employment, and food-security indicators around the world.
How to use the Agriculture & Food Explorer
Choose an indicator from the menu and the map colors countries by their latest value. Click a country, or search for it, to see a profile of its farmland, crop yields, food production, fertilizer use, farm jobs, and food security.
What the indicators mean
- Agricultural land – the share of land used for crops, permanent crops such as orchards, and pasture for animals.
- Cereal yield – kilograms of grain, such as wheat, rice, and maize, harvested per hectare. A hectare is 10,000 square meters, about the size of a soccer field.
- Food production index – how much food a country produces compared with its average in 2014–2016, which is set at 100. A value of 110 means production is 10% higher.
- Fertilizer use – kilograms of fertilizer used per hectare of farmland suitable for crops.
- Employment in agriculture – the share of all workers who work in farming, forestry, or fishing.
- Undernourishment – the share of people who don’t regularly eat enough to meet their energy needs.
What the latest data shows
- Cereal yields vary enormously. In 2024, US farms harvested about 8,400 kg per hectare, and Germany, South Korea, China, and Japan all harvested more than 6,000. India harvested about 3,600, and Nigeria about 1,600. Better seeds, irrigation, fertilizer, and machinery explain most of the difference.
- Farm jobs show how economies change as they develop. In 2025, about 42% of workers in India and 34% in Nigeria worked in agriculture, compared with about 5% in South Korea, under 3% in Japan, and under 2% in the United States and Germany.
- Undernourishment remains a serious problem in some countries: about 22% of people in Nigeria and about 10% in India. In many countries the rate is below 2.5%, the lowest level the data reports.
Why fewer farmers can feed more people
As countries grow richer, farming becomes more productive, and workers move into factories and offices. Today, a tiny share of workers in the United States or Germany produce more food than their countries need. This shift, sometimes called structural transformation, is one of the clearest patterns in economic history. You can see it by comparing this map with the GDP per capita map in the Economic Explorer.
Reading the data carefully
- High fertilizer use isn’t always better. It raises yields, but too much can pollute rivers and coastal waters.
- A high food production index shows growth since the base years, not how much food each person has.
- Undernourishment is an estimate based on food supply, income, and population data, not a direct survey of every household.
Where the data comes from
Figures come from the World Bank’s World Development Indicators, based mainly on the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and, for farm employment, modeled estimates from the International Labour Organization. Each value shows the most recent year available.
Explore more
- Environment Explorer – forests and fresh water
- Trade Explorer – what countries export and import
- Population Explorer – how many people need to be fed