Africa Western and Central | Surface area (sq. km)
Surface area is a country's total area, including areas under inland bodies of water and some coastal waterways. Development relevance: Total surface area is particularly important for understanding an economy's agricultural capacity and the environmental effects of human activity. Innovations in satellite mapping and computer databases have resulted in more precise measurements of land and water areas. Population, surface area, income, and output are basic measures of the size of an economy. They also provide a broad indication of actual and potential resources. Land area is therefore used as one of the major indicator to normalize other indicators. Limitations and exceptions: The data are collected by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations through annual questionnaires. The FAO tries to impose standard definitions and reporting methods, but complete consistency across countries and over time is not possible. The data collected from official national sources through the questionnaire are supplemented with information from official secondary data sources. The secondary sources cover official country data from websites of national ministries, national publications and related country data reported by various international organizations. Statistical concept and methodology: Total land area includes inland water bodies such as major rivers and lakes. Variations from year to year may be due to updated or revised data rather than to change in area. Including areas of former states; for example, the areas of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) are counted in Russian Federationand other successor states.
Publisher
The World Bank
Origin
Africa Western and Central
Records
63
Source
Africa Western and Central | Surface area (sq. km)
1960
9166270 1961
9166270 1962
9166270 1963
9166270 1964
9166270 1965
9166270 1966
9166270 1967
9166270 1968
9166270 1969
9166270 1970
9166270 1971
9166270 1972
9166270 1973
9166270 1974
9166270 1975
9166270 1976
9166270 1977
9166270 1978
9166270 1979
9166270 1980
9166270 1981
9166270 1982
9166270 1983
9166270 1984
9166270 1985
9166270 1986
9166270 1987
9166270 1988
9166270 1989
9166270 1990
9166270 1991
9166270 1992
9166270 1993
9166270 1994
9166270 1995
9166270 1996
9166270 1997
9166270 1998
9166270 1999
9166270 2000
9166270 2001
9166270 2002
9166270 2003
9166270 2004
9166270 2005
9166270 2006
9166270 2007
9166270 2008
9166270 2009
9166270 2010
9166270 2011
9166270 2012
9166270 2013
9166270 2014
9166270 2015
9166270 2016
9166270 2017
9166270 2018
9166260 2019
9166260 2020
9166260 2021
2022
Africa Western and Central | Surface area (sq. km)
Surface area is a country's total area, including areas under inland bodies of water and some coastal waterways. Development relevance: Total surface area is particularly important for understanding an economy's agricultural capacity and the environmental effects of human activity. Innovations in satellite mapping and computer databases have resulted in more precise measurements of land and water areas. Population, surface area, income, and output are basic measures of the size of an economy. They also provide a broad indication of actual and potential resources. Land area is therefore used as one of the major indicator to normalize other indicators. Limitations and exceptions: The data are collected by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations through annual questionnaires. The FAO tries to impose standard definitions and reporting methods, but complete consistency across countries and over time is not possible. The data collected from official national sources through the questionnaire are supplemented with information from official secondary data sources. The secondary sources cover official country data from websites of national ministries, national publications and related country data reported by various international organizations. Statistical concept and methodology: Total land area includes inland water bodies such as major rivers and lakes. Variations from year to year may be due to updated or revised data rather than to change in area. Including areas of former states; for example, the areas of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) are counted in Russian Federationand other successor states.
Publisher
The World Bank
Origin
Africa Western and Central
Records
63
Source