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Photo: Photo taken by Government of Kiribati employee in the course of their work · CC BY 3.0 · via Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale

Topic 13 of 18 · Country Index 2026

Kiribati: Food & Agriculture

What does a country grow, and what does it take to grow it?

Kiribati is placed 126th of 184 countries on food & agriculture in the Country Index 2026, from 2 of its 4 key statistics. Readings behind it: Progress Toward Productive and Sustainable Agriculture (SDG 2.4.1 Proxy) 2.33 (2024); Dietary Energy Supply 3,141 (2024).

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Food & Agriculture

126th

of 184 countries placed

Placed from 2 of 4 key statistics

01The evidence

The 4 key statistics that decide it

Only these place Kiribati on food & agriculture — one vote each. Every value is the publisher’s own, read at the edition the Country Index 2026 used; the grey ticks are every other country it was compared with, lowest on the left.

Why these keys
  1. Key 1 of 4

    Progress Toward Productive and Sustainable Agriculture (SDG 2.4.1 Proxy)

    Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

    Why it is a key: How productive and how sustainable a country's farming is at once — output, inputs, water, emissions and farm work scored together, which is what it takes to grow food rather than how much is grown.

    2024 edition · data for 2024 · CC BY 4.0

    2.33

    Current status score, from 1 (worst) to 5 (best), averaged over up to seven sub-indicators

    Higher is better

    Kiribati: 2.33. Across the 186 countries in this edition, values run from 1.67 (Tuvalu) to 4.57 (Italy); the world median is 3.14.

    World median
    3.14
    Best in Micronesia
    2.33 Kiribati and Nauru

    Each grey tick is one of 186 countries in the 2024 edition.

  2. Key 2 of 4

    Cereal Yield

    Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

    Why it is a key: How much food a hectare of land produces: the clearest single measure of how productively a country farms.

    2023 edition · data for 2023 · CC BY 4.0

    No reading

    Cereal yield (kg per hectare)

    Higher is better

    FAO publishes no 2023 figure for Kiribati, so the standing rests on the other keys.

    Across the 179 countries in this edition, values run from 23 (Cabo Verde) to 29,147 (Oman); the world median is 3,072.

    World median
    3,072
    Best in Micronesia
    1,713 Micronesia

    Each grey tick is one of 179 countries in the 2023 edition.

  3. Key 3 of 4

    Dietary Energy Supply

    Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

    Why it is a key: Whether the food a country produces and imports covers what its population needs to eat, measured before anyone has eaten it.

    2024 edition · data for 2024 · CC BY 4.0

    3,141

    Dietary energy supply (kcal per person per day)

    Higher is better

    Kiribati: 3,141. Across the 155 countries in this edition, values run from 1,757 (Somalia) to 3,962 (United States); the world median is 2,982.

    World median
    2,982
    Best in Micronesia
    3,141 Kiribati

    Each grey tick is one of 155 countries in the 2024 edition.

  4. Key 4 of 4

    Agriculture Orientation Index

    Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

    Why it is a key: How much public spending agriculture attracts set against the share of the economy it produces — whether a state invests in its farms or lives off them.

    2024 edition · data for 2024 · CC BY 4.0

    No reading

    Agriculture orientation index (1.0 = spending matches sector size)

    Higher is better

    FAO publishes no 2024 figure for Kiribati, so the standing rests on the other keys.

    Across the 132 countries in this edition, values run from 0.03 (Ghana) to 5.38 (Singapore); the world median is 0.305.

    World median
    0.305
    Best in Micronesia
    0.51 Nauru

    Each grey tick is one of 132 countries in the 2024 edition.

03In context

Kiribati beside its neighbours

A position reads best beside the countries around it. Every position below is a place among all 184 countries on food & agriculture, never a place within the region.

Micronesia
1st184thNot placed · 40 countries with too few key statisticsNo data

The whole world on food & agriculture

Kiribati and Micronesia

Kiribati has no land border, so the table compares it with its sub-region. The standing is each country’s place among all 184 placed on the topic; the other columns are the publishers’ own values, read at the edition the standing used.

CountryStandingProgress Toward Productive and Sustainable Agriculture (SDG 2.4.1 Proxy)Current status score, from 1 (worst) to 5 (best), averaged over up to seven sub-indicatorsCereal YieldCereal yield (kg per hectare)Dietary Energy SupplyDietary energy supply (kcal per person per day)Agriculture Orientation IndexAgriculture orientation index (1.0 = spending matches sector size)
Nauru110th2.33——0.51
Kiribati126th2.33—3,141—
Micronesia171st21,713——
Guamnot placed————
Marshall Islandsnot placed————
Northern Mariana Islandsnot placed————
Palaunot placed————

“—” means the publisher gives no reading for that country in that edition. A country needs readings on enough keys to be placed.

Placed either side on food & agriculture

The countries immediately above and below Kiribati in the topic’s list.

04Context, no vote

Where Kiribati is ahead of the world, and behind

20 more statistics filed under food & agriculture, published in full and deliberately given no vote in the standing. Select a row for the publisher, the rank and the links.

Every country

Ahead of the world median5

Statistics on which Kiribati does better than the middle country measured.

  • Agricultural Emissions IntensityFAO · 2023 · world median 1.5650.24No real change since 2013

    Kiribati: 0.24 · world median 1.565 · Greenhouse gases from farming per value of agricultural output (kg CO₂eq per international dollar). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2023 edition, data for 2023.

    Published values in that edition run from 0 to 28.2; lower is better.

    Position 188th of 190 — derived here by ordering the published values, 1st = worst. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2023 dataset

  • Share of Dietary Energy Supply from Cereals, Roots and TubersFAO · 2022 · world median 4133▼ Worsened since 2012

    Kiribati: 33 · world median 41 · Share of dietary energy supply from cereals, roots and tubers (%). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2022 edition, data for 2022.

    Published values in that edition run from 21 to 82; lower is better.

    Chart and every countryThe 2022 dataset

  • Livestock Production IndexFAO · 2022 · world median 107.06112.73▲ Improved since 2012

    Kiribati: 112.73 · world median 107.06 · Livestock production index (2014–2016 = 100). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2022 edition, data for 2022.

    Published values in that edition run from 35.52 to 190.08; higher is better.

    Position 76th of 194 — derived here by ordering the published values, 1st = best. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2022 dataset

  • Prevalence of UndernourishmentFAO · 2023 · world median 5.24.1▼ Worsened since 2013

    Kiribati: 4.1 · world median 5.2 · Population undernourished (%). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2023 edition, data for 2023.

    Published values in that edition run from 2.5 to 54.2; lower is better.

    Position 92nd of 104 — derived here by ordering the published values, 1st = worst. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2023 dataset

  • Per Capita Food Supply VariabilityFAO · 2024 · world median 2928▼ Worsened since 2014

    Kiribati: 28 · world median 29 · Year-to-year variability of the food supply (kcal per person per day). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2024 edition, data for 2024.

    Published values in that edition run from 4 to 227; lower is better.

    Chart and every countryThe 2024 dataset

Behind the world median5

Statistics on which Kiribati does worse than the middle country measured.

  • Prevalence of Severe Food InsecurityFAO · 2023 · world median 4.75.8▲ Improved since 2018

    Kiribati: 5.8 · world median 4.7 · Population in severe food insecurity (%). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2023 edition, data for 2023.

    Published values in that edition run from 0 to 63.1; lower is better.

    Position 58th of 127 — derived here by ordering the published values, 1st = worst. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2023 dataset

  • Fruit Supply per PersonFAO · 2023 · world median 84.8369.7▼ Worsened since 2013

    Kiribati: 69.7 · world median 84.83 · Fruit available as food, excluding wine (kg per person per year). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2023 edition, data for 2023.

    Published values in that edition run from 4.27 to 379.63; higher is better.

    Chart and every countryThe 2023 dataset

  • Crop Production IndexFAO · 2022 · world median 106.2395.75▼ Worsened since 2012

    Kiribati: 95.75 · world median 106.23 · Crop production index (2014–2016 = 100). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2022 edition, data for 2022.

    Published values in that edition run from 53.79 to 189.93; higher is better.

    Position 149th of 195 — derived here by ordering the published values, 1st = best. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2022 dataset

  • Vegetable Supply per PersonFAO · 2023 · world median 102.6944.37▼ Worsened since 2013

    Kiribati: 44.37 · world median 102.69 · Vegetables available as food (kg per person per year). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2023 edition, data for 2023.

    Published values in that edition run from 6.89 to 412.72; higher is better.

    Chart and every countryThe 2023 dataset

  • Food Production IndexFAO · 2022 · world median 106.0897.32▼ Worsened since 2012

    Kiribati: 97.32 · world median 106.08 · Food production index (2014–2016 = 100). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2022 edition, data for 2022.

    Published values in that edition run from 71.08 to 177.49; higher is better.

    Position 158th of 195 — derived here by ordering the published values, 1st = best. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2022 dataset

No better end10

These describe the shape of a country — more is not better or worse, only different — so they are never ahead or behind.

  • Fish and Seafood Supply per PersonFAO · 2023 · world median 16.1772.28No real change since 2013

    Kiribati: 72.28 · world median 16.17 · Fish and seafood available as food (kg per person per year, live-weight equivalent). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2023 edition, data for 2023.

    Published values in that edition run from 0.38 to 83.81.

    Chart and every countryThe 2023 dataset

  • Fisheries and Aquaculture ProductionFAO · 2024 · world median 52,375278,517Moved since 2014

    Kiribati: 278,517 · world median 52,375 · Fish, crustaceans, molluscs and other aquatic animals caught or farmed, tonnes (live weight). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2024 edition, data for 2024.

    Published values in that edition run from 0 to 70,500,841.

    Chart and every countryThe 2024 dataset

  • Agricultural LandFAO · 2023 · world median 37.9641.98No real change since 2013

    Kiribati: 41.98 · world median 37.96 · Agricultural land (% of land area). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2023 edition, data for 2023.

    Published values in that edition run from 0.445 to 86.48.

    Position 91st of 209 — derived here by ordering the published values, counted from the highest value. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2023 dataset

  • Meat Supply per PersonFAO · 2023 · world median 57.8345.09Moved since 2013

    Kiribati: 45.09 · world median 57.83 · Meat available as food (kg per person per year, carcass weight). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2023 edition, data for 2023.

    Published values in that edition run from 3.49 to 156.95.

    Chart and every countryThe 2023 dataset

  • Pesticide Use per HectareFAO · 2024 · world median 1.730.98Moved since 2014

    Kiribati: 0.98 · world median 1.73 · Pesticide use (kg per hectare of cropland). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2024 edition, data for 2024.

    Published values in that edition run from 0 to 37.72.

    Position 115th of 178 — derived here by ordering the published values, counted from the highest value. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2024 dataset

  • Livestock DensityFAO · 2023 · world median 0.5350.28No real change since 2013

    Kiribati: 0.28 · world median 0.535 · Livestock units per hectare of agricultural land. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2023 edition, data for 2023.

    Published values in that edition run from 0.02 to 43.97.

    Position 143rd of 188 — derived here by ordering the published values, counted from the highest value. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2023 dataset

  • Arable Land per PersonFAO · 2023 · world median 0.1090.015No real change since 2013

    Kiribati: 0.015 · world median 0.109 · Arable land (hectares per person). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2023 edition, data for 2023.

    Published values in that edition run from 0 to 1.459.

    Position 183rd of 206 — derived here by ordering the published values, counted from the highest value. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2023 dataset

  • Agricultural EmissionsFAO · 2023 · world median 8,63518.3No real change since 2013

    Kiribati: 18.3 · world median 8,635 · Farm-gate emissions (kt CO₂eq). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2023 edition, data for 2023.

    Published values in that edition run from 0 to 1,044,508.

    Position 183rd of 193 — derived here by ordering the published values, counted from the highest value. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2023 dataset

  • Fertilizer Consumption per HectareFAO · 2023 · world median 87.360Moved since 2013

    Kiribati: 0 · world median 87.36 · Fertilizer consumption (kg per hectare of arable land). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2023 edition, data for 2023.

    Published values in that edition run from 0 to 2,926.

    Position 188th of 188 — derived here by ordering the published values, counted from the highest value. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2023 dataset

  • Cropland Nitrogen BalanceFAO · 2023 · world median 37.63-75.38No real change since 2013

    Kiribati: -75.38 · world median 37.63 · Nitrogen surplus (+) or deficit (−) on cropland, kg per hectare. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2023 edition, data for 2023.

    Published values in that edition run from -555.52 to 1,199.

    Chart and every countryThe 2023 dataset

05Country Index 2026

Food & Agriculture among Kiribati’s 12 topics

Food & Agriculture is Kiribati’s 7th best-placed topic of 12. Strongest first; each marker sits at the position divided by that topic’s field, so fields of different sizes compare fairly.

On the profile
  1. Poverty & Inequality12th of 159
  2. Democracy & Civil Liberties29th of 198
  3. Gender & Equality47th of 183
  4. Risk & Resilience101st of 193
  5. Energy92nd of 165
  6. Education & Knowledge116th of 198
  7. Food & Agriculture126th of 184
  8. Development & Human Capital139th of 196
  9. Health & Wellbeing142nd of 200
  10. Governance & Institutions157th of 194
  11. Digital & Technology173rd of 198
  12. Economy & Innovation162nd of 176

No standing on Work & Labour, Environment & Sustainability, Peace & Security, Mobility & Trade: too few of those topics’ key statistics are published for this country.

06The top of the list

Who leads on food & agriculture

The three countries placed highest of 184, and the leaders Kiribati can most readily be measured against.

All 184 countries
  1. 1

    Serbia

    Southern Europe

    1st of 184 · 4 of 4 keys

    Photo: Lošmi derivative work: Jjtkk · CC BY-SA 3.0, greyscale

  2. 2

    Austria

    Western Europe

    2nd of 184 · 4 of 4 keys

    Photo: chensiyuan · CC BY-SA 4.0, greyscale

  3. 3

    Malta

    Southern Europe

    3rd of 184 · 3 of 4 keys

    Photo: Dirk Heldmaier derivative work: Jjtkk · CC BY-SA 3.0, greyscale

Placed highest nearby

  1. Highest in Oceania

    Australia54th4/4 keys
  2. Highest in Micronesia

    Nauru110th2/4 keys
  3. This page

    Kiribati126th2/4 keys

Positions out of 184 placed on the topic. A country needs readings on enough keys to be placed, and the top of the list is often held on fewer of them.

07Questions

Kiribati on food & agriculture: questions answered

Every answer is built from the numbers on this page, so none can say something the page does not.

How does Kiribati rank on food & agriculture?

Kiribati is placed 126th of 184 countries on Food & Agriculture in the Country Index 2026, from 2 of its 4 key statistics (Progress Toward Productive and Sustainable Agriculture (SDG 2.4.1 Proxy) and Dietary Energy Supply). The position is this site’s ordering of published statistics, not a rank any publisher printed.

What is the latest Progress Toward Productive and Sustainable Agriculture (SDG 2.4.1 Proxy) figure for Kiribati?

2.33 in 2024 (current status score, from 1 (worst) to 5 (best), averaged over up to seven sub-indicators), according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The world median in the same edition was 3.14.

What is the latest Dietary Energy Supply figure for Kiribati?

3,141 in 2024 (dietary energy supply (kcal per person per day)), according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The world median in the same edition was 2,982.

How have Kiribati’s food & agriculture figures changed?

Progress Toward Productive and Sustainable Agriculture (SDG 2.4.1 Proxy) fell from 2.5 in 2015 to 2.33 in 2024; Dietary Energy Supply rose from 2,804 in 2001 to 3,141 in 2024; Agriculture Orientation Index fell from 0.12 in 2001 to 0.04 in 2023.

Which food & agriculture statistics are missing for Kiribati?

No current reading is published for Kiribati on Agricultural Irrigated Land, Agriculture Orientation Index, Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Value Added (% of GDP), Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Value Added per Worker, Cereal Import Dependency Ratio, Cereal Yield, Employment in Agriculture, Global Report on Food Crises, Land Under Cereal Production, Legal Guarantees of Women's Equal Rights to Land, Organic Agricultural Area, Water Withdrawal by Sector and Women's Share of Agricultural Landowners. They are listed rather than hidden, so the evidence on the page can be checked against it.

09Method

Method, sources and how to cite

What this topic does not measure

This subject is about production and land use, not about whether people are fed. Hunger, undernourishment and what a population actually eats are measured under Health & Wellbeing, and the two regularly disagree — a country can grow a great deal and still leave many people short, and one that grows little can be well fed by trade. The wider environmental cost of farming — emissions, water withdrawal, forest cover — is filed under Environment & Sustainability.

About food & agriculture, in full

How the Food & Agriculture standing is decided, step by step

A standing is a place in a list, not a mark out of anything. This one is part of the Country Index 2026, and it is worked out like this.

  1. A few key indicators decide it; the rest are context. 4 indicators on this topic are keys and 31 are charted alongside them without a vote. That split is the point: if every statistic voted, importing five more of one kind would quietly change what the topic is about.
  2. Each key is read at one edition. ⚠ The keys behind this standing do not all describe the same year — they run from 2023 to 2024, because publishers release on their own schedules. Read the standing as “how this country places now”, not as a snapshot of one year.
  3. Every country’s published value is turned into a place within that one key’s own field, and then expressed as a share of that field — how far down this key’s list the country sits, rather than how many countries are above it. Keys where a higher published number is worse (terrorism, hunger, disaster risk) are turned round first, so the good end is always the same end.
  4. Dividing by the field first is the whole reason this works. A place carries the size of its list inside it: 22nd of 44 and 108th of 215 are the same showing, and averaging the numbers 22 and 108 says loudly that they are not. Fields on this site run from about 44 countries to about 215, so averaging raw places would reward a country for happening to be measured in small ones. Dividing each place by its own field removes the size and leaves only the showing.
  5. The shares are averaged, plainly. One key, one vote — no key is weighted above another, because any weighting would be this site’s opinion presented as a measurement. Countries are then put in order by that average, and the average itself is never published. It is our arithmetic with nothing anchoring it, so printing it would invite it to be read as a measurement somebody made. The position it produces, the band, and the keys it was built from are all published instead — every one of them checkable against the tables on this page.
  6. A country needs 2 of this topic’s 4 keys — half, rounded up, and never fewer than 2. A standing built from one reading, printed beside one built from four, is two different things sharing a column heading. 184 countries clear the bar here.
  7. A key has to earn its vote every edition. It must measure at least 120 countries (below that it starts measuring who was surveyed rather than the world), it must not have more than 10% of its field tied at either end, and it must not repeat another key in the same topic — Spearman correlation above 0.92 counts as repeating. A topic needs at least 2 surviving keys to place anyone at all; this one has 4.
  8. A standing is relative, and the grouping is ours. It says where a country places against the others measured alongside it, so it moves when they move. The publishers listed on this page did not agree to be read together, and each measures its subject its own way: the underlying numbers are theirs, the ordering on top is this site’s — the same method as the rest of the Country Index, applied to one subject instead of all of them.

The key statistics and their licences

The other 20 statistics on this page come from 1 publisher, each named beside its numbers, with every edition and licence on the datasets pages.

The standing itself is part of the Country Index 2026, published under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Photographs

Kiribati’s banner and the countries placed highest, from their profiles: Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale, each used under the licence named.

Cite this page

Nations Inquiry (2026). Kiribati: Food & Agriculture — standing and statistics, Country Index 2026. https://nationsinquiry.com/countries/kiribati/food

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