Global cereal production has grown much faster than population in the last half-century

The world's population has more than doubled over the last 60 years, but global food production has managed to keep up.

The chart shows the change in four indicators since 1961: cereal production, cereal yields, land use for cereals, and population. Each metric is expressed in its relative change since 1961 (which is given a value of zero).

Cereal production has increased by 3.5-fold, more than the 2.6-fold growth in population. That means production has grown faster than the population, and the world produces more cereal per person than 60 years ago.

We can also see what has driven this increase. You can grow more food by either increasing crop yields or using more land. While land use has increased, most of this growth has come from higher crop yields. This has spared some natural habitats from being converted into farmland.

Read more in my article on the Green Revolution and food production →

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This page was imported from Our World in Data. “Global cereal production has grown much faster than population in the last half-century” by Hannah Ritchie, published by Our World in Data under CC BY 4.0. Changed here: set as a page, its interactive charts shown as pictures. Data from third parties keeps its own licence.

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