Top Date-Producing Countries in 2025: FAOSTAT 2024 Ranking
Latest FAOSTAT Ranking of the World’s Largest Date Producers
The FAOSTAT crop-production dataset used for this ranking covers production through 2024 rather than calendar-year 2025. In the latest common year, Saudi Arabia ranks first with 1,927,556 tonnes of date fruit production, followed by Egypt, Algeria and Iran.
This is a 2025 analytical snapshot based on the latest comparable FAOSTAT production year, 2024. No 2025 estimate, CAGR-based extension, forecast or modeled projection is used in the ranking.
Metric: production quantity of dates. Unit: metric tonnes. Direction: higher production ranks higher. Coverage: 10 confirmed countries. Numeric source: FAOSTAT Crops and livestock products.
Saudi Arabia ranks first in the confirmed 2024 Top 10.
The United Arab Emirates ranks tenth in the confirmed table.
The ranking includes ten confirmed country observations for the same crop, year and unit.
Production quantity in metric tonnes; ranking direction is descending.
What the ranking measures
The ranking measures harvested production quantity of dates, the fruit of the date palm, Phoenix dactylifera. FAOSTAT reports the metric in metric tonnes. The comparison is therefore about physical agricultural output rather than crop value, harvested area or international trade.
Four producers exceed one million tonnes: Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Algeria and Iran. The next country, Pakistan, produces 604,243 tonnes, creating a pronounced break between fourth and fifth place.
Production and exports should be read separately. Domestic consumption, processing and stocks affect how much of a harvest reaches foreign markets, so a country can rank highly in production without holding the same position in export quantity or export value.
Top 5 date-producing countries
Leading countries by date production, FAOSTAT 2024
| Rank | Country | Production | Source / method note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saudi Arabia | 1,927,556 t | FAOSTAT · source year 2024 · target year 2024 · official_value · Western Asia. |
| 2 | Egypt | 1,750,302 t | FAOSTAT · source year 2024 · target year 2024 · official_value · Northern Africa. |
| 3 | Algeria | 1,337,301 t | FAOSTAT · source year 2024 · target year 2024 · official_value · Northern Africa. |
| 4 | Iran | 1,182,144 t | FAOSTAT · source year 2024 · target year 2024 · official_value · Southern Asia. |
| 5 | Pakistan | 604,243 t | FAOSTAT · source year 2024 · target year 2024 · official_value · Southern Asia. |
Values are retained at the confirmed source precision used in this dataset. The complete Top 10 appears below.
Chart: Top 10 date producers
The chart uses the same production values as the ranking table. It highlights the scale of the first four producers and the large drop between Iran in fourth place and Pakistan in fifth.
Methodology
The ranking uses FAOSTAT production quantity for the crop item “Dates,” measured in metric tonnes. All countries use the same reference year, 2024, and are sorted from highest to lowest production.
Reference year
The FAOSTAT crop-production dataset used here has time coverage through 2024. The ranking does not extend the series with assumed 2025 production.
Data status
Each ranking value is classified as official_value because it is published in FAOSTAT rather than calculated or projected by StatRanker. FAOSTAT separately maintains source and quality flags for individual observations.
Coverage and inclusion
The table contains ten confirmed country observations for Dates, production quantity, tonnes and reference year 2024. World totals, regional aggregates and observations from other years are excluded.
Ranking rule
Production quantity is sorted descending. No averaging, interpolation, CAGR, growth assumption or forecast changes the country order.
Missing values
A country without a confirmed 2024 observation for this exact FAOSTAT item, element and unit is not added by interpolation, extrapolation or substitution from another year.
Source conflicts
FAOSTAT QCL is the controlling numeric source for this ranking. If a secondary publication reports a different or rounded figure, the values are not averaged; the FAOSTAT production series takes precedence.
Geographic labels
Regional labels follow the UN M49 geographic classification. They provide geographic context only and have no role in calculating rank.
Rounding and calculations
The ranking uses the confirmed values shown in the table. Summary totals and differences are calculated directly from those observations. No production formula is used because all ranking rows are source-published values.
FAO defines crop production as harvested production in basic product weight. The dataset principally draws on statistics provided by member countries and can also contain observations produced through FAO estimation or imputation procedures when reported data are unavailable. Those source-level treatments are distinct from a StatRanker projection.
There are no calculated_value rows, official_forecast rows or modeled_projection rows in this ranking, so no base-year formula, projection formula or growth assumption is applied.
This metric does not measure exports, export revenue, harvested area, yield per hectare, domestic consumption, date quality, cultivar mix, farm income or profitability. Rankings based on those measures may produce a different country order.
Dataset reference: FAOSTAT Crops and livestock products. FAO catalog time coverage: 1961–2024. Production unit: tonnes. Dataset revision: December 15, 2025.
Main ranking: Top 10 countries by date production
All ten entries use the same commodity, production metric, unit and 2024 reference year. The ranking contains no StatRanker-calculated production values and no 2025 projections.
Top 10 date-producing countries, FAOSTAT 2024
| Rank | Country | Production | Source / method note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saudi Arabia | 1,927,556 t | FAOSTAT · source year 2024 · target year 2024 · official_value · Western Asia · value 1,927,556 t. |
| 2 | Egypt | 1,750,302 t | FAOSTAT · source year 2024 · target year 2024 · official_value · Northern Africa · value 1,750,302 t. |
| 3 | Algeria | 1,337,301 t | FAOSTAT · source year 2024 · target year 2024 · official_value · Northern Africa · value 1,337,301 t. |
| 4 | Iran | 1,182,144 t | FAOSTAT · source year 2024 · target year 2024 · official_value · Southern Asia · value 1,182,144 t. |
| 5 | Pakistan | 604,243 t | FAOSTAT · source year 2024 · target year 2024 · official_value · Southern Asia · value 604,243 t. |
| 6 | Iraq | 587,190 t | FAOSTAT · source year 2024 · target year 2024 · official_value · Western Asia · value 587,190 t. |
| 7 | Sudan | 443,134 t | FAOSTAT · source year 2024 · target year 2024 · official_value · Northern Africa · value 443,134 t. |
| 8 | Oman | 400,655 t | FAOSTAT · source year 2024 · target year 2024 · official_value · Western Asia · value 400,655 t. |
| 9 | Tunisia | 400,219 t | FAOSTAT · source year 2024 · target year 2024 · official_value · Northern Africa · value 400,219 t. |
| 10 | United Arab Emirates | 333,632 t | FAOSTAT · source year 2024 · target year 2024 · official_value · Western Asia · value 333,632 t. |
The ten confirmed production values total 8,966,376 tonnes. Rank is calculated directly from the values shown above, in descending order.
What stands out in the Top 10
Key Insight
Saudi Arabia leads the ranking with 1,927,556 tonnes, 177,254 tonnes above Egypt. The two countries are the only producers above 1.7 million tonnes.
Notable Pattern
Four countries exceed one million tonnes. Pakistan's fifth-place production is about 51% of Iran's output, making the break after fourth place particularly pronounced.
Regional Concentration
All ten countries are in Asia or Africa. Under the UN M49 classification, Western Asia and Northern Africa together account for eight of the ten positions.
Closest Positions
Oman and Tunisia are nearly tied at 400,655 and 400,219 tonnes. Only 436 tonnes separate eighth and ninth place.
How to interpret the ranking
Production scale
A higher rank means a country harvested a larger physical quantity of dates in 2024. It does not indicate better fruit quality, higher market prices or greater farm profitability.
Production versus trade
Export rankings can differ because only part of a country's crop enters international trade. Domestic demand and processing can absorb substantial production.
Comparable reference year
Using one common production year avoids combining observed values with forecasts and keeps the ranking comparable across countries.
What rank cannot show
Production volume alone does not reveal yield, harvested area, export dependence, cultivar mix, product quality or production efficiency.
For broader crop context, compare the global fruit production ranking and the fig production ranking.
Download the Top Date-Producing Countries in 2025: FAOSTAT 2024 Ranking dataset
Top Date-Producing Countries in 2025: FAOSTAT 2024 Ranking
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Download Excel + CSV Data PackFAQ
Which country produces the most dates?
Saudi Arabia ranks first in the latest common FAOSTAT production year, with 1,927,556 tonnes in 2024. Egypt ranks second with 1,750,302 tonnes.
Are these 2025 production figures?
No. The page is a 2025 analytical snapshot using 2024, the latest common production year in the FAOSTAT dataset used here. The ranking does not present 2024 observations as calendar-year 2025 production.
Are any 2025 values estimated by StatRanker?
No. No growth rate, CAGR, trend assumption or forecasting model is used to create 2025 production figures for this ranking.
What does official_value mean?
It means the value used in the ranking is published in FAOSTAT rather than calculated or projected by StatRanker. FAOSTAT separately records source and quality information for individual observations.
How are missing values handled?
A country is not added to the ranking unless a confirmed 2024 FAOSTAT observation is available for the same crop item, production metric and unit. Missing values are not filled with estimates created by StatRanker.
Does the ranking measure date exports?
No. It measures harvested production in tonnes. Export quantity and export value are separate metrics and may produce a different country order.
Sources
FAOSTAT — Crops and livestock products
Primary numeric source for the country-level date production observations used in the ranking.
FAOSTAT — Production visualization
Official FAOSTAT interface for inspecting crop production by commodity, country and reference year.
FAO Data Catalog — Crop production, yield and harvested area
Official dataset metadata confirming production in tonnes, the December 2025 revision and time coverage through 2024.
https://data.fao.org/catalog/iso/d24a448b-3b62-4c09-8c1d-4a39bb599876
FAO — Agricultural production statistics 2010–2024
Official FAO release providing context for the latest agricultural production data through 2024.
UN Statistics — M49 geographic regions
Reference for the Western Asia, Southern Asia and Northern Africa geographic labels used for regional context.
