IBRD only | 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
IBRD only
Records
63
Source
IBRD only | Surface area (sq. km)
1960
1961 72907928
1962 72907928
1963 72907928
1964 72907928
1965 72907928
1966 72907928
1967 72907928
1968 72907928
1969 72907928
1970 72907928
1971 72907928
1972 72907928
1973 72907928
1974 72907928
1975 72907928
1976 72907928
1977 72905808
1978 72905808
1979 72907848
1980 72907838
1981 72907838
1982 72907838
1983 72907838
1984 72907838
1985 72907838
1986 72907838
1987 72906498
1988 72906508
1989 72906508
1990 72907178
1991 72907208
1992 72907238
1993 72907328
1994 72907328
1995 72907328
1996 72907388
1997 72907378
1998 72880118
1999 72880118
2000 72878238
2001 72878242.2
2002 72878291.2
2003 72878354.7
2004 72878374.5
2005 72880271.8
2006 72880261.4
2007 72880260.8
2008 72880099.8
2009 72877560
2010 72877475
2011 72877445
2012 72877437
2013 72908348
2014 72908514
2015 72911113
2016 72912084
2017 72915228
2018 72915194.2
2019 73013193.08
2020 73008746.879
2021 73008935.13
2022
IBRD only | 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
IBRD only
Records
63
Source