IDA blend | 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
IDA blend
Records
63
Source
IDA blend | Surface area (sq. km)
1960
4457950 1961
4457950 1962
4457950 1963
4457950 1964
4457950 1965
4457950 1966
4457950 1967
4457950 1968
4457950 1969
4457950 1970
4457950 1971
4457950 1972
4457950 1973
4457950 1974
4457950 1975
4457950 1976
4457950 1977
4457950 1978
4457950 1979
4457950 1980
4457950 1981
4457950 1982
4457950 1983
4457950 1984
4457950 1985
4457950 1986
4457950 1987
4457950 1988
4457950 1989
4457950 1990
4457950 1991
4457950 1992
4457950 1993
4457950 1994
4457950 1995
4457950 1996
4457950 1997
4457950 1998
4457950 1999
4454653 2000
4454653 2001
4454653 2002
4454653 2003
4454653 2004
4454653 2005
4454653 2006
4454653 2007
4454653 2008
4454653 2009
4454653 2010
4454653 2011
4454653 2012
4454653 2013
4454653 2014
4459474 2015
4459474 2016
4459474 2017
4459474 2018
4459474 2019
4459474 2020
4459474 2021
2022
IDA blend | 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
IDA blend
Records
63
Source