Global: Asia Now Grows 52.6% of the World’s 390 Million Tonnes of Potatoes
FAOSTAT data for 2024 put world potato output at 390.4 million tonnes. Ten countries grow two thirds of it, and Asia's harvest is almost nine times bigger than in 1961.
The world grew 390.4 million tonnes of potatoes in 2024, according to the latest FAOSTAT data, as summarised by Potatoes Without Borders. That is 0.95% more than in 2023. The harvested area was 17.1 million hectares and the average yield was 22.86 tonnes per hectare.
Asia produced 52.61% of the total. Europe produced 25.94%, the Americas 12.17%, Africa 8.76% and Oceania 0.53%.
The top ten
Country figures from the FAO series published by Our World in Data show the ten largest producers in 2024:
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- China – 94.8 million tonnes
- India – 57.1 million tonnes
- Ukraine – 21.1 million tonnes
- United States – 19.1 million tonnes
- Russia – 18.4 million tonnes
- Germany – 12.7 million tonnes
- Bangladesh – 10.6 million tonnes
- France – 9.2 million tonnes
- Pakistan – 8.4 million tonnes
- Egypt – 8.1 million tonnes
Together these ten countries grew 259.6 million tonnes, or about 66% of the world crop. China and India alone grew about 39%. India’s crop in 2024 was about 5% smaller than the 60.1 million tonnes reported for 2023.
How the map changed since 1961
The same data series starts in 1961. Since then, Asia’s potato output has grown from 23.3 million to 205.3 million tonnes, almost nine times more. Africa grew even faster in relative terms: from 2.1 million to 34.2 million tonnes, or about 16 times. Production in the Americas roughly doubled, from 22.6 million to 47.5 million tonnes.
Several Asian and African countries grew from a small base. India’s crop is about 21 times bigger than in 1961 (2.7 million tonnes then). Bangladesh grew about 31 times, Egypt about 21 times and Pakistan about 75 times.
Western Europe moved the other way. Germany produced 29.9 million tonnes in 1961 and 12.7 million in 2024, a fall of about 58%. Poland fell from 45.2 million to 5.9 million tonnes, or about 87%. France fell by about 36%. The United States grew by about 43%.
Why it matters
The centre of the potato world is now in Asia, and demand for seed, storage, processing and machinery follows the tonnes. Most of the new volume comes from countries where yields are still below European levels, so better seed and storage could add more tonnes without more land.
In Europe, the crop is smaller but more intensive. Fewer hectares now give more tonnes per hectare, which is why European yield rose while its share of world output fell.
Photo: Potato harvest in a field (illustrative). KS / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
