Terrestrial protected areas in Sub-Saharan Africa
Protected areas covered 17.3% of the land area of Sub-Saharan Africa in 2025. The value for 2025 is the highest in the series, which starts in 2013.
Sub-Saharan Africa is a group: World Bank region. The value is the aggregate published by World Bank, not an average calculated on this site.
Sub-Saharan Africa, 2025
17.3%
Change from 2024
+0.2percentage points
World, 2025
16.5%
Terrestrial protected areas in Sub-Saharan Africa over time
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Sub-Saharan Africa
World
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The chart loads when you scroll to it. The table below shows the same data.
The chart shows a calculation from the published values. The table below keeps the published values.
% of land area. Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators. Gaps mean no published value; points are not joined across missing years.
| Period | Sub-Saharan Africa | World |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 17.3% | 16.5% |
| 2024 | 17.0% | 16.4% |
| 2023 | 16.8% | 16.1% |
| 2022 | 16.5% | 15.9% |
| 2021 | 16.4% | 15.8% |
| 2020 | 16.4% | 15.4% |
| 2019 | 16.1% | 15.1% |
| 2018 | 16.4% | 15.0% |
| 2017 | 16.7% | 15.1% |
| 2016 | 16.5% | 14.9% |
| 2015 | 15.9% | 15.0% |
| 2014 | 15.7% | 15.2% |
| 2013 | 16.3% | 15.0% |
A dash means no value was published for that period.
In short
- That is a change of +0.2 percentage points from 17.0% in 2024.
- Since 2015, when it was 15.9%, the figure has changed by +1.4 percentage points.
- The figure for the world in 2025 was 16.5%.