Sovereign and dependent territory rows of the World Bank “Cereal yield (kg per hectare)” indicator (top 30 by most recent year). Cereals include wheat, rice, maize, barley and others; the value is production per hectare of harvested land. Aggregates (region.id === “NA”) excluded.
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How to use this chart
Play/Pause starts and stops the year-by-year animation, the year slider jumps to any year, and the speed selector (0.5×, 1×, 2×) changes playback speed. Each year shows the top 12 entries out of the 30 held in the dataset.
About this ranking
About this metric. “Cereal Yield by Country (Time Series)” reformats data published by the World Bank (indicator code AG.YLD.CREL.KG; underlying data from the FAO). The value is kg per hectare — the combined output of wheat, rice, maize, barley and other cereals divided by the area harvested.
What to watch. The chart tells two stories: Gulf states such as Oman and the UAE top the table because tiny irrigated plots yield extreme per-hectare figures, while the real Green Revolution shows in the United States and the Netherlands roughly tripling their yields since 1961.
Caveats. Yield is efficiency per unit of land, not total production. Countries with a very small cereal-cropping area (e.g. Gulf states) can top the list because intensive irrigated or greenhouse production pushes output per hectare very high. Check the production rankings for absolute output. Figures are FAO estimates.
Trends in the data
The 2023 leaders make clear that this indicator measures efficiency per unit of area. First is Oman at 29,147 kg/ha, then the United Arab Emirates at 23,307, Qatar at 18,275 and Kuwait at 14,957 — all desert countries. Because the area planted with cereals is extremely small and the crop is grown intensively under irrigation or protected cultivation, yield per hectare comes out exceptionally high. A country whose total output would not register in world statistics can top this table.
Oman grew from 1,115 kg/ha in 1961 to 29,147, a 26.14× increase that took it from 21st to 1st. Mauritius grew 7.70×, from 1,513 to 11,643 kg/ha, moving from 17th to 6th; New Caledonia 7.45×, from 1,314 to 9,790, 19th to 7th; and the Bahamas from 22nd to 12th. All are small countries and territories that moved towards producing small quantities very intensively.
Growth in the large cereal producers is gentler but steady. The United States went from 2,522 kg/ha in 1961 to 8,330 in 2023, 3.30×; the Netherlands from 3,691 to 8,080, 2.19×; New Zealand from 3,125 to 8,489, 2.72×; and Belgium stands at 8,486. The 30-country average grew 3.8×, from 2,417.59 to 9,288.83 kg/ha. This is the green revolution — high-yielding varieties, fertiliser, irrigation and pesticides introduced as a package — drawing more food from a limited area of land.
By contrast, Japan led the world in 1961 at 4,174 kg/ha, ahead of the Netherlands (3,691), Denmark (3,384) and South Korea (3,197). In 2023 it is 23rd at 6,245 kg/ha. The value did grow, by 1.50×, but that is the smallest increase among these 30 countries. Denmark fell from 4th to 30th and South Korea from 5th to 19th. Countries with high yields early on had less headroom and were overtaken by those catching up — the pattern that runs through this entire table.
Trivia quiz
What is "yield" in farming, and how does it differ from total production?
Yield is output per unit of land (usually per hectare). Expanding the planted area raises total production, but yield measures how much a single plot produces — a measure of efficiency. (Source)
What is the name of the mid-20th-century push that sharply raised cereal yields in developing countries?
The Green Revolution — a package of high-yield varieties, fertiliser, irrigation and pesticides that dramatically raised wheat and rice yields in Asia and beyond. (Source)
Which agronomist led the Green Revolution and won the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize, credited with saving a billion people from hunger?
Norman Borlaug, who bred high-yield wheat varieties and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970. (Source)