FAO · Progress Toward Productive and Sustainable Agriculture (SDG 2.4.1 Proxy)
Sustainable agriculture score by country
How productive and sustainable is a country's farming?
3 countries shared first place of the 186 countries compared in 2024, all at 4.57, and Tuvalu last, at 1.67. In the middle country the figure was 3.14. Among the 186 countries measured in every edition since 2015, the middle one moved from 3.16 to 3.14.
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Sustainable agriculture score · 2024
Key statistic · Food & Agriculture
3 countries share the highest value, 4.57 — no single country is named first.
012024 · position · derived
Who leads
The three countries at the highest end of 186 compared, the three at the other end, and the first on each continent.
Highest in 2024 · shared
3 countries share the highest reading, 4.57
No single country is named first: picking one from a shared value would be a choice the data does not make.
Highest on each continent
- Africa
Morocco4.00 - Americas
Dominica4.40 - Asia
Lebanon4.29 - Europe
3 countries share 4.57
- Oceania
New Zealand3.83 - Every region
02Every measured country
Sustainable agriculture score 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.
- 1.67–2.50
- 2.57–3.00
- 3.14–3.43
- 3.50–3.86
- 4.00–4.57
- No reading in 2024 (1 measured in an earlier edition)
- Europe
3.86
the middle country, of 39 measured · 49 members
3 share 4.57
Montenegro2.50Highest and lowest reading in Europe.
- Americas
3.43
the middle country, of 34 measured · 48 members
Dominica4.40
Venezuela2.57Highest and lowest reading in Americas.
- Asia
3.00
the middle country, of 47 measured · 52 members
Lebanon4.29
Turkmenistan2.00Highest and lowest reading in Asia.
- Africa
2.86
the middle country, of 54 measured · 55 members
Morocco4.002 share 1.71
Highest and lowest reading in Africa.
- Oceania
2.33
the middle country, of 12 measured · 21 members
New Zealand3.83
Tuvalu1.67Highest and lowest reading in Oceania.
- Every region
22 sub-regions, highest middle country first
- Southern Europe
4.07
the middle country, of 12 measured · 17 members
Italy4.57Montenegro2.50Highest and lowest reading in Southern Europe.
- Eastern Europe
4.00
the middle country, of 10 measured · 10 members
Czechia4.43
Belarus2.83Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Europe.
- Western Europe
3.86
the middle country, of 7 measured · 9 members
2 share 4.57
Netherlands3.67Highest and lowest reading in Western Europe.
- Northern Europe
3.57
the middle country, of 10 measured · 13 members
Denmark4.14
Iceland2.86Highest and lowest reading in Northern Europe.
- Eastern Asia
3.48
the middle country, of 6 measured · 8 members
2 share 4.17
Mongolia2.29Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Asia.
- Caribbean
3.43
the middle country, of 13 measured · 24 members
Dominica4.40
Antigua and Barbuda2.67Highest and lowest reading in Caribbean.
- Central America
3.43
the middle country, of 7 measured · 8 members
Guatemala4.00
Panama2.71Highest and lowest reading in Central America.
- Northern Africa
3.32
the middle country, of 6 measured · 6 members
Morocco4.00
Sudan2.29Highest and lowest reading in Northern Africa.
- South America
3.29
the middle country, of 12 measured · 12 members
2 share 3.86
Venezuela2.57Highest and lowest reading in South America.
- South-eastern Asia
3.14
the middle country, of 11 measured · 11 members
Singapore3.67
Timor-Leste2.17Highest and lowest reading in South-eastern Asia.
- Western Africa
2.93
the middle country, of 16 measured · 16 members
Benin3.43
Mali1.86Highest and lowest reading in Western Africa.
- Eastern Africa
2.86
the middle country, of 18 measured · 19 members
Seychelles3.67
Zambia2.00Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Africa.
- Southern Asia
2.84
the middle country, of 8 measured · 9 members
Nepal3.57
Pakistan2.29Highest and lowest reading in Southern Asia.
- Central Asia
2.83
the middle country, of 5 measured · 5 members
Tajikistan3.29Turkmenistan2.00Highest and lowest reading in Central Asia.
- Western Asia
2.83
the middle country, of 17 measured · 19 members
Lebanon4.292 share 2.17
Highest and lowest reading in Western Asia.
- Middle Africa
2.71
the middle country, of 9 measured · 9 members
São Tomé and Príncipe3.67
Chad2.00Highest and lowest reading in Middle Africa.
- Southern Africa
1.86
the middle country, of 5 measured · 5 members
South Africa3.142 share 1.71
Highest and lowest reading in Southern Africa.
- Australia and New Zealand
2 of 2 measured — too few for a middle: Australia, New Zealand.
New Zealand3.83
Australia3.50Highest and lowest reading in Australia and New Zealand.
- Melanesia
4 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu.
Fiji3.57
Vanuatu2.14Highest and lowest reading in Melanesia.
- Micronesia
3 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Kiribati, Micronesia, Nauru.
2 share 2.33
Micronesia2.00Highest and lowest reading in Micronesia.
- Northern America
2 of 4 measured — too few for a middle: Canada, United States.
United States4.00
Canada3.83Highest and lowest reading in Northern America.
- Polynesia
3 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu.
Tonga2.14Tuvalu1.67Highest and lowest reading in Polynesia.
03The whole field at once
The spread
186 countries, one dot each, on one scale — further right is a higher value. Half the countries are above 3.14; a quarter are above 3.67, and a quarter below 2.68. The bar in each row marks that continent’s middle country.
04All 187 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. A score needs only four of the seven measures, so two countries with the same score may have been averaged over different sets. Every score is an average of whole numbers, so many countries share a value in the middle of the table.
Showing 25 of 187 countries
Values for 2024. The change column compares 2024 with 2023 only; the sparkline covers the recent editions.
052015–2024 · 10 reference years
Over time
Each point is one year from 2015, the start of SDG monitoring, as FAO's latest release calculates it. FAO fills gaps in the inputs by carrying earlier values forward, so a change from one year to the next can reflect new data rather than new farming.
- the middle country
- the middle half of countries
- the middle of the 186 countries measured every time
- each continent’s middle country
The same, year by year
| Year | Countries | Middle country | Middle half | Measured every time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 186 | 3.14 | 2.68 – 3.67 | 3.14 |
| 2023 | 187 | 3.14 | 2.69 – 3.67 | 3.16 |
| 2022 | 187 | 3.17 | 2.69 – 3.69 | 3.17 |
| 2021 | 187 | 3.14 | 2.69 – 3.67 | 3.14 |
| 2020 | 187 | 3.14 | 2.71 – 3.67 | 3.14 |
| 2019 | 187 | 3.14 | 2.67 – 3.71 | 3.14 |
| 2018 | 187 | 3.17 | 2.67 – 3.67 | 3.17 |
| 2017 | 187 | 3.14 | 2.67 – 3.67 | 3.14 |
| 2016 | 187 | 3.14 | 2.67 – 3.67 | 3.16 |
| 2015 | 187 | 3.14 | 2.69 – 3.71 | 3.16 |
062023 → 2024
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
South Sudan2.00 → 2.17 · 176th → 167th+0.17
Serbia4.14 → 4.29 · 17th → 8th+0.15
Sierra Leone2.71 → 2.86 · 133rd → 113th+0.15- Guatemala3.86 → 4.00 · 29th → 21st+0.14
Madagascar2.00 → 2.14 · 176th → 171st+0.14
186 countries were measured in both 2023 and 2024. The field changed from 187 to 186 countries, so a place can move for reasons that have nothing to do with the country itself.
07Across every edition
Sustainable agriculture score in records
The extremes of the statistic. A record reached by more than one country names none of them.
Highest reading on record
4.80
Current status score, from 1 (worst) to 5 (best), averaged over up to seven sub-indicators
Lowest reading on record
Reached 12 times by 2 countries — shared, so no holder is named
1.57
Current status score, from 1 (worst) to 5 (best), averaged over up to seven sub-indicators
Biggest improvement between editions
+0.72
2.71 → 3.43
Biggest decline between editions
−0.86
2.86 → 2.00
Most improved since first measured
+0.86
2.57 → 3.43
At the top most often
8 of 10
editions, alone at the first-listed end
08The measure
About sustainable agriculture score
FAO scores how far each country's farming is both productive and sustainable, from 1 to 5, by averaging seven measures: output per hectare, how varied that output is, value added per farm worker, how efficiently nitrogen is used, the pressure farming puts on water, the greenhouse gas emitted per dollar of output, and how much farm work is informal. It is the interim measure the UN uses for SDG target 2.4, sustainable food production.
What the number is: Current status score, from 1 (worst) to 5 (best), averaged over up to seven sub-indicators.
What it does not measure
It averages up to seven national figures, so it cannot see how individual farms are run, and two countries with the same score may have been scored on different measures. Soil health, pesticide risk and biodiversity on farmland, which the full SDG 2.4.1 survey covers, are not among its inputs.
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 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.”
- Edition used
- 2024 (data 2024)
- Countries
- 186
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
Moves with
Where sustainable agriculture score is higher, these tend to be higher too.
- RISE Renewable Energy Policy ScoreESMAP · 136 countries in commonρ 0.70
- Population Aged 65 and OverUN DESA Population Division · 186 countries in commonρ 0.69
- Planetary pressures-adjusted HDIUNDP Human Development Report Office · 153 countries in commonρ 0.67
Moves against
Where sustainable agriculture score is higher, these tend to be lower.
- Average Household SizeUN DESA Population Division · 129 countries in commonρ −0.68
- Population Under Age 15UN DESA Population Division · 186 countries in commonρ −0.65
- Climate Vulnerability (ND-GAIN)KeyNotre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative (ND-GAIN), University of Notre Dame · 184 countries in commonρ −0.64
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
11Questions
Sustainable agriculture score: questions and answers
Which country has the highest sustainable agriculture score?
3 countries share the highest reading, 4.57, among the 186 compared in 2024, so no single country is named.
Which country has the lowest sustainable agriculture score?
Tuvalu, at 1.67, among the 186 countries compared in 2024.
How many countries does the Progress Toward Productive and Sustainable Agriculture (SDG 2.4.1 Proxy) cover?
186 in 2024, and 187 at least once across all editions. The number measured varies from 186 to 187 between editions.
What is the world average sustainable agriculture score?
This site does not calculate a world average, which would depend on how countries are weighted. In the middle country of the 186 compared in 2024, the figure was 3.14.
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 Progress Toward Productive and Sustainable Agriculture (SDG 2.4.1 Proxy) published?
This site holds 10 reference years, 2015–2024, all recalculated in Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)’s 2026 report on one method — not 10 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. FAOSTAT's SDG Indicators domain, read from FAO's own bulk download. FAO computes the score from FAOSTAT data and from SDG 6.4.2 and 8.3.1 reporting; its trend score, on the same scale, is stored beside it. 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
Progress Toward Productive and Sustainable Agriculture (SDG 2.4.1 Proxy) — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
FAOSTAT's SDG Indicators domain, read from FAO's own bulk download. FAO computes the score from FAOSTAT data and from SDG 6.4.2 and 8.3.1 reporting; its trend score, on the same scale, is stored beside it.
Newest edition
Report year 2024Data year 2024
Cite the source as: FAO. 2026. FAOSTAT: SDG Indicators. Accessed on 3 October 2026. https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/SDGB Licence: CC-BY-4.0.
Licence: CC BY 4.0, checked 2026-10-03.
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.
Cite this page
Nations Inquiry (2026). Sustainable agriculture score by country: Progress Toward Productive and Sustainable Agriculture (SDG 2.4.1 Proxy), data from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). https://nationsinquiry.com/statistics/sustainable-agriculture