FAO data (via OWID) for “Cocoa bean production” (top 30 sovereign and dependent territory rows by most recent year). Values in thousand tonnes (two decimals). Aggregates 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. “Cocoa Bean Production by Country (Time Series)” reformats data published by Our World in Data (OWID Grapher slug “cocoa-bean-production”, original source FAO). Values are expressed in thousand tonnes.
What to watch. The decisive moment comes in the late 1970s and 1980s, when Côte d’Ivoire overtakes Ghana and never looks back. That concentration — two West African neighbours growing over half the world’s cocoa — is the backstory to the record price spike of 2023–24.
Caveats. Statistical capacity varies by country; older years and smaller producers include estimates and interpolation, and recent-year figures may be revised later.
Trends in the data
Côte d’Ivoire’s growth is unlike anything else in this table. It went from 85.0 thousand tonnes in 1961 to 1,890.44 thousand in 2024, a 22.24× increase, moving from 4th to 1st. In 2024 it produces 36.3% of the 5,209 thousand tonnes grown by these 30 countries. The 1961 leader was Ghana at 415.2 thousand tonnes, five times Côte d’Ivoire’s output at the time. In little over half a century the centre of production moved wholesale to the neighbouring country.
In multiples, Indonesia grew even faster: from 1.03 thousand tonnes in 1961 to 632.7 thousand in 2024, a 614× increase that lifted it from 21st to 2nd. Planting expanded from the 1980s, reaching 695.36 thousand tonnes by 2003. Ecuador also rose 9.15×, from 44.1 to 403.7 thousand tonnes, taking 4th. Uganda climbed from 28th to 12th, India from 30th to 15th and Peru from 17th to 8th, as production spread across Africa, Asia and South America.
What deserves attention is that the 30-country total has been falling since its 2021 peak of 5,755 thousand tonnes: 5,607 in 2022, 5,109 in 2023 and 5,209 thousand tonnes in 2024. Ghana’s decline is the steepest component, from 1,047.38 thousand tonnes in 2021 to 683.3 in 2022, 653.7 in 2023 and 530.0 in 2024 — roughly halved in three years. This coincides with cocoa prices rising to levels never seen before.
Some countries have shrunk over the long run. São Tomé and Príncipe fell from 9.1 thousand tonnes in 1961 to 4.0 thousand in 2024, a factor of 0.44, dropping from 13th to 28th. Haiti went from 18th to 29th, Mexico from 8th to 18th, the Philippines from 15th to 25th, Venezuela from 9th to 17th and Togo from 11th to 19th. Old growing regions retreating while production concentrates in a handful of countries is the other movement in this table, and it is easy to miss if you watch only the leaders.
Trivia quiz
What does cacao's scientific name, Theobroma cacao, mean?
"Food of the gods" in Greek — named by Linnaeus in the 18th century. The Maya and Aztecs used cacao as currency and ceremonial drink. (Source)
What is the belt of land suited to cocoa growing called?
The cocoa belt — the hot, humid band within roughly 20 degrees of the equator covering West Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. (Source)
Which two West African countries together grow more than half of the world's cocoa?
Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana. Côte d'Ivoire alone accounts for roughly 40% of global production. (Source)