IBRD only | Land area (sq. km)
Land area is a country's total area, excluding area under inland water bodies, national claims to continental shelf, and exclusive economic zones. In most cases the definition of inland water bodies includes major rivers and lakes. Development relevance: Land 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, land 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 does not include 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
IBRD only
Records
63
Source
IBRD only | Land area (sq. km)
1960
1961 50169800.742
1962 50169800.742
1963 50169800.742
1964 50169800.742
1965 50169800.742
1966 50169800.742
1967 50169800.742
1968 50169800.742
1969 50169800.742
1970 50169800.742
1971 50169800.742
1972 50169800.742
1973 50169730.742
1974 50169690.742
1975 50169670.742
1976 50169540.742
1977 50169540.742
1978 50169540.742
1979 50169540.742
1980 50169450.742
1981 50169450.742
1982 50169450.742
1983 50169450.742
1984 50169450.742
1985 50169450.742
1986 50169450.742
1987 50169450.742
1988 50169450.742
1989 50168460.742
1990 50168460.742
1991 50169030.742
1992 70857475.742
1993 70853749.742
1994 70848925.742
1995 70845925.742
1996 70845581.742
1997 70846272.742
1998 70820271.742
1999 70827100.742
2000 70871444.742
2001 70870563.942
2002 70868842.168
2003 70875721.758
2004 70875878.519
2005 70878720.891
2006 70978961.493
2007 70978372.893
2008 70977721.887
2009 70975253.134
2010 70975600.418
2011 70975596.947
2012 70975608.946
2013 70974998.383
2014 70975210.921
2015 70975231.4
2016 70975251.4
2017 70969019.4
2018 70969164.3
2019 70968327.9
2020 70965228.403
2021 70980294.47
2022
IBRD only | Land area (sq. km)
Land area is a country's total area, excluding area under inland water bodies, national claims to continental shelf, and exclusive economic zones. In most cases the definition of inland water bodies includes major rivers and lakes. Development relevance: Land 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, land 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 does not include 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
IBRD only
Records
63
Source