FAO · Cereal Yield
Cereal yield by country
How much grain does each hectare of farmland produce?
Oman placed first of the 179 countries compared in 2023, at 29,147.0, and Cabo Verde last, at 23.0. In the middle country the figure was 3,071.7. Among the 142 countries measured in every edition since 1961, the middle one moved from 1,078.9 to 2,719.9.
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Cereal yield · 2023
Key statistic · Food & Agriculture
Highest of 179Oman
29,147.0012023 · position · derived
Who leads
The three countries at the highest end of 179 compared, the three at the other end, and the first on each continent.
1Photo: Alfred Weidinger from Vienna, Austria derivative work: Jjtkk · CC BY 2.0, greyscale
2Photo: Unknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0, greyscale
3Photo: Haakon S. Krohn derivative work: JamesA · CC BY-SA 3.0, greyscale
Lowest in 2023
- 179
Cabo Verde23.0 - 178
Namibia451.2 - 177
Sudan454.9
Positions out of 179. Where a country sits says how it compares with the others measured, and nothing about why.
Highest on each continent
- Africa
Mauritius11,643.4 - Americas
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines14,066.7 - AsiaOman29,147.0
- Europe
Belgium8,485.7 - Oceania
New Caledonia9,789.8 - Every region
02Every measured country
Cereal yield on a map
Each country is shaded by its value, in five groups holding the same number of countries. Hover a country for its value, or select it to open its profile. Below the map, each continent’s middle country.
Darker is a higher value — the better end.
- 23.0–1,469.7
- 1,482.1–2,415.3
- 2,420.4–3,694.7
- 3,722.1–5,539.5
- 5,578.1–29,147.0
- No reading in 2023 (2 measured in an earlier edition)
- Europe
5,372.3
the middle country, of 38 measured · 49 members
Belgium8,485.7
Spain2,190.9Highest and lowest reading in Europe.
- Americas
4,008.9
the middle country, of 34 measured · 48 members
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines14,066.7
Grenada998.8Highest and lowest reading in Americas.
- Asia
3,461.5
the middle country, of 47 measured · 52 members
Oman29,147.0
Yemen801.1Highest and lowest reading in Asia.
- Oceania
3,400.0
the middle country, of 8 measured · 21 members
New Caledonia9,789.8
Vanuatu632.4Highest and lowest reading in Oceania.
- Africa
1,360.5
the middle country, of 52 measured · 55 members
Mauritius11,643.4Cabo Verde23.0Highest and lowest reading in Africa.
- Every region
21 sub-regions, highest middle country first
- Western Europe
7,051.0
the middle country, of 7 measured · 9 members
Belgium8,485.7
Luxembourg5,539.5Highest and lowest reading in Western Europe.
- Southern Europe
5,169.9
the middle country, of 11 measured · 17 members
Slovenia6,287.3Spain2,190.9Highest and lowest reading in Southern Europe.
- Eastern Europe
5,059.3
the middle country, of 10 measured · 10 members
Hungary6,252.0
Russia3,166.6Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Europe.
- Eastern Asia
4,892.0
the middle country, of 6 measured · 8 members
South Korea6,615.2
Mongolia1,295.5Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Asia.
- South America
4,391.9
the middle country, of 12 measured · 12 members
Chile6,382.3
Bolivia1,980.0Highest and lowest reading in South America.
- Melanesia
4,109.1
the middle country, of 5 measured · 5 members
New Caledonia9,789.8Vanuatu632.4Highest and lowest reading in Melanesia.
- Northern Europe
3,872.4
the middle country, of 10 measured · 13 members
United Kingdom7,137.9
Iceland2,430.1Highest and lowest reading in Northern Europe.
- South-eastern Asia
3,759.0
the middle country, of 10 measured · 11 members
Vietnam5,995.3
Timor-Leste2,129.4Highest and lowest reading in South-eastern Asia.
- Southern Asia
3,461.5
the middle country, of 9 measured · 9 members
Bangladesh5,320.9
Afghanistan2,303.0Highest and lowest reading in Southern Asia.
- Central America
3,317.1
the middle country, of 8 measured · 8 members
Panama4,476.8
Guatemala1,821.7Highest and lowest reading in Central America.
- Central Asia
2,798.6
the middle country, of 5 measured · 5 members
Uzbekistan5,343.6
Kazakhstan1,028.4Highest and lowest reading in Central Asia.
- Western Asia
2,568.5
the middle country, of 17 measured · 19 members
Oman29,147.0Yemen801.1Highest and lowest reading in Western Asia.
- Caribbean
2,005.3
the middle country, of 12 measured · 24 members
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines14,066.7Grenada998.8Highest and lowest reading in Caribbean.
- Eastern Africa
1,757.5
the middle country, of 17 measured · 19 members
Mauritius11,643.4
Somalia503.5Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Africa.
- Western Africa
1,388.2
the middle country, of 16 measured · 16 members
Ghana2,687.6Cabo Verde23.0Highest and lowest reading in Western Africa.
- Northern Africa
1,326.0
the middle country, of 6 measured · 6 members
Egypt7,402.2Sudan454.9Highest and lowest reading in Northern Africa.
- Middle Africa
970.0
the middle country, of 8 measured · 9 members
São Tomé and Príncipe2,003.9
Chad819.3Highest and lowest reading in Middle Africa.
- Southern Africa
870.2
the middle country, of 5 measured · 5 members
South Africa5,703.0Namibia451.2Highest and lowest reading in Southern Africa.
- Australia and New Zealand
2 of 2 measured — too few for a middle: Australia, New Zealand.
New Zealand8,488.8
Australia2,690.9Highest and lowest reading in Australia and New Zealand.
- Micronesia
1 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Micronesia.
Micronesia1,713.2Highest and lowest reading in Micronesia.
- Northern America
2 of 4 measured — too few for a middle: Canada, United States.
United States8,330.0
Canada3,694.7Highest and lowest reading in Northern America.
03The whole field at once
The spread
179 countries, one dot each, on one scale — further right is a higher value. Half the countries are above 3,071.7; a quarter are above 4,977.0, and a quarter below 1,733.9. The bar in each row marks that continent’s middle country.
Log scale: each gridline is ten times the one before, so countries of very different sizes can be seen on one line.
04All 181 ever measured
Every country
In order, highest value first. “=” marks a position shared with another country. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. Read the very top with care: the leaders are small territories farming a tiny, intensively worked area, not the world’s great grain producers, who sit further down and grow vastly more.
Showing 25 of 181 countries
Values for 2023. The change column compares 2023 with 2022 only; the sparkline covers the recent editions.
051961–2023 · 63 reference years
Over time
Each point is one harvest year from 1961. Yields move with weather as much as with technique, so read the slope across a decade rather than the gap between two seasons.
- the middle country
- the middle half of countries
- the middle of the 142 countries measured every time
- each continent’s middle country
The same, year by year
| Year | Countries | Middle country | Middle half | Measured every time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 179 | 3,071.7 | 1,733.9 – 4,977.0 | 2,719.9 |
| 2022 | 179 | 3,216.6 | 1,670.9 – 4,788.1 | 2,977.2 |
| 2021 | 179 | 3,002.8 | 1,640.5 – 5,014.5 | 2,804.7 |
| 2020 | 179 | 3,260.0 | 1,678.4 – 4,838.7 | 3,007.1 |
| 2019 | 179 | 3,106.0 | 1,647.8 – 5,008.3 | 2,889.9 |
| 2018 | 179 | 2,883.3 | 1,598.0 – 4,792.0 | 2,759.1 |
| 2017 | 180 | 2,984.0 | 1,621.1 – 4,823.0 | 2,847.5 |
| 2016 | 180 | 3,042.6 | 1,526.5 – 4,661.9 | 2,934.2 |
| 2015 | 180 | 3,000.0 | 1,591.4 – 4,622.8 | 2,789.5 |
| 2014 | 179 | 3,001.2 | 1,588.0 – 4,623.3 | 2,822.9 |
| 2013 | 179 | 2,969.9 | 1,626.8 – 4,364.9 | 2,830.1 |
| 2012 | 179 | 2,782.2 | 1,578.4 – 4,114.7 | 2,729.4 |
| 2011 | 178 | 2,754.1 | 1,596.4 – 4,221.6 | 2,658.1 |
| 2010 | 178 | 2,647.3 | 1,600.1 – 4,129.0 | 2,576.0 |
| 2009 | 178 | 2,652.7 | 1,608.1 – 4,159.2 | 2,460.4 |
| 2008 | 178 | 2,664.0 | 1,407.0 – 4,139.3 | 2,471.8 |
| 2007 | 178 | 2,552.8 | 1,354.3 – 3,823.8 | 2,448.3 |
| 2006 | 177 | 2,514.1 | 1,347.6 – 3,716.7 | 2,397.0 |
| 2005 | 176 | 2,511.6 | 1,339.6 – 3,652.8 | 2,315.0 |
| 2004 | 176 | 2,428.5 | 1,333.1 – 3,696.5 | 2,344.8 |
| 2003 | 176 | 2,331.2 | 1,302.6 – 3,451.8 | 2,298.0 |
| 2002 | 176 | 2,377.6 | 1,251.1 – 3,542.3 | 2,195.6 |
| 2001 | 176 | 2,199.1 | 1,234.4 – 3,370.7 | 2,154.7 |
| 2000 | 176 | 2,170.0 | 1,222.6 – 3,503.1 | 2,141.1 |
| 1999 | 174 | 2,089.9 | 1,242.3 – 3,289.6 | 2,074.8 |
| 1998 | 174 | 1,969.6 | 1,206.0 – 3,387.6 | 1,949.1 |
| 1997 | 174 | 1,993.3 | 1,191.2 – 3,401.8 | 1,925.0 |
| 1996 | 173 | 2,046.3 | 1,325.3 – 3,333.3 | 2,018.6 |
| 1995 | 173 | 1,964.6 | 1,193.5 – 3,161.9 | 1,960.8 |
| 1994 | 173 | 1,913.9 | 1,140.4 – 2,990.3 | 1,906.0 |
| 1993 | 172 | 2,010.6 | 1,223.1 – 3,057.6 | 1,970.9 |
| 1992 | 169 | 1,919.3 | 1,087.6 – 2,991.8 | 1,788.7 |
| 1991 | 150 | 1,807.9 | 1,121.2 – 3,072.4 | 1,729.3 |
| 1990 | 150 | 1,878.0 | 1,126.2 – 3,029.6 | 1,865.9 |
| 1989 | 149 | 1,903.4 | 1,166.1 – 2,961.7 | 1,772.8 |
| 1988 | 149 | 1,775.8 | 1,196.6 – 2,875.0 | 1,767.1 |
| 1987 | 149 | 1,610.3 | 1,152.9 – 2,821.0 | 1,609.6 |
| 1986 | 150 | 1,722.8 | 1,186.6 – 2,922.0 | 1,671.8 |
| 1985 | 150 | 1,748.8 | 1,157.8 – 2,888.3 | 1,658.6 |
| 1984 | 150 | 1,630.8 | 1,068.3 – 2,860.8 | 1,586.6 |
| 1983 | 150 | 1,648.7 | 1,043.7 – 2,907.6 | 1,615.9 |
| 1982 | 150 | 1,570.6 | 1,078.1 – 2,709.6 | 1,549.9 |
| 1981 | 150 | 1,636.1 | 1,059.7 – 2,541.7 | 1,591.2 |
| 1980 | 149 | 1,575.7 | 1,020.2 – 2,546.8 | 1,532.2 |
| 1979 | 150 | 1,509.7 | 965.2 – 2,449.5 | 1,494.0 |
| 1978 | 150 | 1,506.5 | 929.2 – 2,481.4 | 1,440.7 |
| 1977 | 150 | 1,449.9 | 926.8 – 2,375.9 | 1,443.0 |
| 1976 | 149 | 1,438.9 | 974.3 – 2,302.0 | 1,419.0 |
| 1975 | 149 | 1,418.7 | 990.7 – 2,212.0 | 1,405.4 |
| 1974 | 149 | 1,421.8 | 957.1 – 2,295.4 | 1,404.1 |
| 1973 | 149 | 1,325.8 | 873.8 – 2,241.0 | 1,296.0 |
| 1972 | 149 | 1,356.7 | 933.1 – 2,150.6 | 1,285.3 |
| 1971 | 149 | 1,321.1 | 902.7 – 2,167.9 | 1,285.8 |
| 1970 | 148 | 1,291.7 | 887.5 – 2,082.8 | 1,277.1 |
| 1969 | 148 | 1,302.9 | 886.5 – 1,868.7 | 1,286.2 |
| 1968 | 148 | 1,256.6 | 874.1 – 1,846.0 | 1,224.5 |
| 1967 | 147 | 1,280.0 | 873.4 – 1,888.6 | 1,229.9 |
| 1966 | 147 | 1,178.6 | 832.2 – 1,833.3 | 1,132.1 |
| 1965 | 146 | 1,150.0 | 854.7 – 1,773.9 | 1,122.9 |
| 1964 | 146 | 1,172.9 | 810.3 – 1,694.5 | 1,158.6 |
| 1963 | 146 | 1,155.0 | 824.0 – 1,756.0 | 1,129.1 |
| 1962 | 146 | 1,158.9 | 858.1 – 1,691.3 | 1,139.1 |
| 1961 | 146 | 1,091.5 | 822.1 – 1,718.2 | 1,078.9 |
062022 → 2023
Who rose and fell
The biggest changes in value between the two newest editions — reference years recalculated in one report, not two separate publications. Places are shown second, because they also move when other countries do.
Improved most
before → after
Qatar11,242.0 → 18,274.6 · 5th → 3rd+7,032.6
United Arab Emirates20,369.8 → 23,306.5 · 2nd → 2nd+2,936.7- Mauritius9,247.2 → 11,643.4 · 7th → 6th+2,396.2
- Hungary4,032.1 → 6,252.0 · 65th → 23rd+2,219.9
Serbia4,637.8 → 6,105.8 · 49th → 26th+1,468.0
179 countries were measured in both 2022 and 2023.
07Across every edition
Cereal yield in records
The extremes of the statistic. A record reached by more than one country names none of them.
Highest reading on record
36,761.9
Cereal yield (kg per hectare)
Lowest reading on record
0.1
Cereal yield (kg per hectare)
Biggest improvement between editions
+24,649.7
12,112.2 → 36,761.9
Biggest decline between editions
−22,523.5
36,761.9 → 14,238.4
Most improved since first measured
+28,031.6
1,115.4 → 29,147.0
At the top most often
17 of 63
editions, alone at the first-listed end
08The measure
About cereal yield
Cereal yield is how much grain a country harvests from each hectare it plants, in kilograms. It is the cleanest single measure of farm productivity there is — and it is how a growing population gets fed without clearing more forest.
What the number is: Cereal yield (kg per hectare).
What it does not measure
It measures output per hectare, not what that output costs in water, fertiliser or soil, and it does not say whether the harvest reaches the people who need it.
09Where it fits
Connections
Its part in the Country Index, the statistics whose values line up most closely with it across countries, and others on the same subject.
In the Country Index
A key statistic for Food & Agriculture
“How much food a hectare of land produces: the clearest single measure of how productively a country farms.”
- Edition used
- 2023 (data 2023)
- Countries
- 179
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
Moves with
Where cereal yield is higher, these tend to be higher too.
- Inequality-adjusted Human Development IndexUNDP Human Development Report Office · 157 countries in commonρ 0.70
- Fertilizer Consumption per HectareFAO · 176 countries in commonρ 0.69
- GNI per Capita (PPP)World Bank Group · 97 countries in commonρ 0.68
Moves against
Where cereal yield is higher, these tend to be lower.
- Population Under Age 15UN DESA Population Division · 179 countries in commonρ −0.68
- Coefficient of Human InequalityUNDP Human Development Report Office · 157 countries in commonρ −0.66
- Crude Birth RateUN DESA Population Division · 179 countries in commonρ −0.66
Rank correlation (ρ, from −1 to 1) across countries, on each statistic’s newest edition, out of 380 statistics sharing at least 80 countries with this one. Two statistics that move together do not cause each other.
10Keep reading
Explore further
The countries at either end
11Questions
Cereal yield: questions and answers
Which country has the highest cereal yield?
Oman, at 29,147.0, among the 179 countries compared in 2023.
Which country has the lowest cereal yield?
Cabo Verde, at 23.0, among the 179 countries compared in 2023.
How many countries does the Cereal Yield cover?
179 in 2023, and 181 at least once across all editions. The number measured varies from 146 to 180 between editions.
What is the world average cereal yield?
This site does not calculate a world average, which would depend on how countries are weighted. In the middle country of the 179 compared in 2023, the figure was 3,071.7.
Is this Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)’s own ranking?
No. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) publishes the values but ranks nobody; the position on this page is derived by Nations Inquiry by ordering the published values, and equal values share a position.
How often is the Cereal Yield published?
This site holds 63 reference years, 1961–2023, all recalculated in Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)’s 2026 report on one method — not 63 separate publications.
Where does the data come from, and can I download it?
From Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), under CC BY 4.0. From FAOSTAT via the World Bank’s indicator API (AG.YLD.CREL.KG). 2024 is not imported: only 79 countries had reported, one short of the floor this site sets. Every edition is on this site’s Datasets pages as a full table, and downloads as a CSV file with every value unrounded.
12Method
Sources, method and citation
Source
Cereal Yield — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
From FAOSTAT via the World Bank’s indicator API (AG.YLD.CREL.KG). 2024 is not imported: only 79 countries had reported, one short of the floor this site sets.
Newest edition
Report year 2023Data year 2023
Cite the source as: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. FAOSTAT. Rome: FAO.
Licence: CC BY 4.0, checked 2026-09-06.
How this page reads the numbers
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) ranks nobody on this measure. The position is derived by Nations Inquiry by ordering the published values; equal values share a position.
- Which end is better follows the publisher’s own reading of the measure.
- A country is named at an end only when it holds that value alone. Where several share it, the page says how many and names none first.
- Values are stored exactly as published and trimmed only for display. “The middle country” is the median of the countries measured, not a world average.
The file itself, column by column — where it came from, what each column holds, and every edition as a CSV — is on its dataset page.
Photographs
The countries at the top of this statistic, from their profiles: Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale, each used under the licence named.
- Oman — Alfred Weidinger from Vienna, Austria derivative work: Jjtkk, CC BY 2.0
- United Arab Emirates — Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Qatar — Haakon S. Krohn derivative work: JamesA, CC BY-SA 3.0
Cite this page
Nations Inquiry (2026). Cereal yield by country: Cereal Yield, data from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). https://nationsinquiry.com/statistics/cereal-yield