Australia | 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
Commonwealth of Australia
Records
63
Source
Australia | Surface area (sq. km)
1960
1961 7741220
1962 7741220
1963 7741220
1964 7741220
1965 7741220
1966 7741220
1967 7741220
1968 7741220
1969 7741220
1970 7741220
1971 7741220
1972 7741220
1973 7741220
1974 7741220
1975 7741220
1976 7741220
1977 7741220
1978 7741220
1979 7741220
1980 7741220
1981 7741220
1982 7741220
1983 7741220
1984 7741220
1985 7741220
1986 7741220
1987 7741220
1988 7741220
1989 7741220
1990 7741220
1991 7741220
1992 7741220
1993 7741220
1994 7741220
1995 7741220
1996 7741220
1997 7741220
1998 7741220
1999 7741220
2000 7741220
2001 7741220
2002 7741220
2003 7741220
2004 7741220
2005 7741220
2006 7741220
2007 7741220
2008 7741220
2009 7741220
2010 7741220
2011 7741220
2012 7741220
2013 7741220
2014 7741220
2015 7741220
2016 7741220
2017 7741220
2018 7741220
2019 7741220
2020 7741220
2021 7741220
2022

Australia | 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
Commonwealth of Australia
Records
63
Source