This report aims to address key challenges in land tenure and governance by generating and providing comprehensive data, evidence, and analysis on their current status globally. It documents trends in land tenure, land rights, and governance at national and local levels, with data disaggregated by gender, tenure systems, and specific groups such as Indigenous Peoples and customary landholders.

• The report strengthens and scales up land data through improved collaboration and integration, enhancing the quality and robustness of available evidence.
• It highlights the critical role of land in achieving sustainable development and addressing global challenges, including climate change, land degradation, biodiversity loss, and inequality, thereby supporting progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Additionally, it aims to inform policymakers, intergovernmental organizations, civil society, the private sector, and academia with a clear reference point for data on land tenure and governance.

Data highlights

Land data, especially land tenure data, remain scarce:

• 56% of the 59 countries assessed lack a robust framework for collecting and publishing land tenure data.

Who owns the world’s land?:

• 42% of land worldwide is customary land (land held in accordance with unwritten and traditional customs rather than formal statutory law). 28% is public land managed by states, 18% is privately owned
• While customary land constitutes 42% of the world’s total, only 8% is formally recognized with documented ownership rights.
• Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest share of land under customary tenure (73%) and the lowest share of such land being legally recognized (1%).

Tenure insecurity is high and rising:

• 23% of the global adult population believe it is likely or very likely that they could lose the right to some or all of their land or housing property within the next five years.
• From 2020 to 2024, the share of people feeling insecure about their land or housing rights rose from 19% to 23%.
• Tenure insecurity is highest in the Middle East and North Africa (29%), Eastern Asia (26%), and sub-Saharan Africa (26%), while Southern Asia has the lowest level (18%).

Women’s land rights still lag behind:

• In 43 of 49 countries with data, men are more likely than women to own or have secure rights to land. In nearly half of these countries, the gender gap exceeds 20%.
• Globally, women typically own a much smaller share of agricultural land, both jointly and solely, compared to men.
• Of the 45 countries recognizing customary law, only 25 include legal provisions that uphold non-discrimination or gender equality over customary practices in cases of conflict.

Customary landholders are custodians of the environment:

• Collectively managed lands contain 37% of all irrecoverable carbon globally (50.63 Gt), with forest biomes accounting for 85% of this carbon.
• Nearly 60% of customary lands across 64 countries are under threat from industrial activities. These include renewable energy projects (42%), oil and gas extraction (18%), commercial agriculture (14%), mining (9%), and urbanization (4%).

Extreme land inequalities:

• The largest farms (over 1 000 ha) manage more than half of the world’s farmland, even though they represent just 0.1% of all farms. On average, the largest 10% of landholders manage 56% of land.
• Globally, 400 million agricultural holdings (85% of all farms) are smaller than 2 ha and account for only about 9% of total farmland. The smallest 40% of landholders operate just 6% on average, which amounts to just over 1% when estimated aggregating globally.
• In three out of 13 African countries assessed, the top 10% of holdings control all documented land, while the bottom 40% have none – a pattern evident in 50% of the African countries.
• Corporate and financial companies account for 70% of large-scale land transactions, with pension funds making up 51%. 73% of these entities operate on a shareholder basis.

Towards responsible land governance:

• Since the endorsement of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGT) in 2012, 71 countries (36%) have undertaken some form of land policy reform. Of these, 27 (38%) referenced the VGGT.
• Among African large-scale land acquisition deals assessed, 78% complied with fewer than half of the VGGT principles. 20% showed no compliance. The most common violations involve lack of inclusive consultation, failure to respect national laws, and disregard for legitimate tenure rights.
• Transparency remains a major gap. Most countries report on only 5 to 20% of the variables used to monitor VGGT principles in land investments.

Policy Highlights

1. Strong political commitment and broad engagement are essential to translate national land policies into measurable outcomes and SDG progress.
2. Effective land governance requires inclusive, rights-based approaches that ensure equal participation, transparency, and trust.
3. Land policies must secure rights for all, including the right to housing. Land tenure policies must recognize the legitimate tenure rights of all right holders and support inclusive rural development.
4. Women’s land rights depend on equal access to land ownership, inheritance and participation in land-related decision-making, gender-responsive frameworks, and addressing structural and cultural barriers.
5. Customary land rights must be legally recognized and protected. Further, communities need to be supported and respected in their self-determination, the integration of Indigenous knowledge and the FPIC principles.
6. Addressing land inequality should include the redistribution of available public or private land or regulatory measures such rent and tendency control to reduce poverty and support rural development.
7. Tailored financing and stronger partnerships are needed to scale up land governance and integrate it into broader investments.
8. Improved land data and evidence are key to transparency, accountability, and informed, equitable decision-making.