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Data

Share of global habitable land needed for agriculture if everyone had the diet of...

About this data

Source
Alexander et al. (2016) – processed by Our World in Data
Last updated
January 1, 2016
Date range
2011–2011
Unit
%

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

Alexander et al. – Human appropriation of land for food: the role of diet

This data is based on the published work of Alexander et al. (2016). Human appropriation of land for food: The role of diet. Full reference below.

The authors calculate the HALF (Human appropriation of land for food) index, which measures the percentage of total land area we would need for the global population to consume the average diet of any given country. This is based on population and dietary figures from FAO 2011 data.

OWID have re-calculated these figures as the percentage of habitable land area (rather than total land area). This corrects for land which is either barren or glacial land and could not be used for agriculture or other land uses. To correct for this factor, we have assumed that 71% of total land area as habitable (with 10% glaciers and 19% barren land); figures based on WWF (2016). Living Planet Report 2016.

A HALF Index value of 100% means that 100% of global habitable land area would be needed as agricultural land to provide for global diets. Values >100% are not physically possible within global land constraints.

References:

Alexander, P., Brown, C., Arneth, A., Finnigan, J., & Rounsevell, M. D. (2016). Human appropriation of land for food: the role of diet. Global Environmental Change, 41, 88-98. Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378016302370

WWF. 2016. Living Planet Report 2016. Risk and resilience in a new era. WWF International, Gland, Switzerland. Available at: http://awsassets.panda.org/downloads/lpr_living_planet_report_2016.pdf

Retrieved on
January 1, 2016
Retrieved from
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378016302370
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
Alexander, P., Brown, C., Arneth, A., Finnigan, J., and Rounsevell, M. D. (2016). Human appropriation of land for food: the role of diet. Global Environmental Change, 41, 88-98.

This data is based on the published work of Alexander et al. (2016). Human appropriation of land for food: The role of diet. Full reference below.

The authors calculate the HALF (Human appropriation of land for food) index, which measures the percentage of total land area we would need for the global population to consume the average diet of any given country. This is based on population and dietary figures from FAO 2011 data.

OWID have re-calculated these figures as the percentage of habitable land area (rather than total land area). This corrects for land which is either barren or glacial land and could not be used for agriculture or other land uses. To correct for this factor, we have assumed that 71% of total land area as habitable (with 10% glaciers and 19% barren land); figures based on WWF (2016). Living Planet Report 2016.

A HALF Index value of 100% means that 100% of global habitable land area would be needed as agricultural land to provide for global diets. Values >100% are not physically possible within global land constraints.

References:

Alexander, P., Brown, C., Arneth, A., Finnigan, J., & Rounsevell, M. D. (2016). Human appropriation of land for food: the role of diet. Global Environmental Change, 41, 88-98. Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378016302370

WWF. 2016. Living Planet Report 2016. Risk and resilience in a new era. WWF International, Gland, Switzerland. Available at: http://awsassets.panda.org/downloads/lpr_living_planet_report_2016.pdf

Retrieved on
January 1, 2016
Retrieved from
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378016302370
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
Alexander, P., Brown, C., Arneth, A., Finnigan, J., and Rounsevell, M. D. (2016). Human appropriation of land for food: the role of diet. Global Environmental Change, 41, 88-98.

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“Data Page: Share of global habitable land needed for agriculture if everyone had the diet of...”. Our World in Data (2026). Data adapted from Alexander et al.. Retrieved from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260511-092124/grapher/share-of-global-habitable-land-needed-for-agriculture-if-everyone-had-the-diet-of.html [online resource] (archived on May 11, 2026).

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Alexander et al. (2016) – processed by Our World in Data

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Alexander et al. (2016) – processed by Our World in Data. “Share of global habitable land needed for agriculture if everyone had the diet of...” [dataset]. Alexander et al., “Human appropriation of land for food: the role of diet” [original data]. Retrieved May 11, 2026 from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260511-092124/grapher/share-of-global-habitable-land-needed-for-agriculture-if-everyone-had-the-diet-of.html (archived on May 11, 2026).

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