IDA 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
IDA only
Records
63
Source
IDA only | Surface area (sq. km)
1960
1961 21135921
1962 21135921
1963 21135921
1964 21135921
1965 21135921
1966 21135921
1967 21135921
1968 21135921
1969 21135921
1970 21135921
1971 21135921
1972 21135921
1973 21135921
1974 21135921
1975 21135921
1976 21135921
1977 21135921
1978 21135921
1979 21135921
1980 21135921
1981 21135921
1982 21135921
1983 21135921
1984 21135921
1985 21135921
1986 21135921
1987 21135921
1988 21135921
1989 21135921
1990 21135921
1991 21135921
1992 21135921
1993 21135921
1994 21128998
1995 21128998
1996 21128998
1997 21128998
1998 21128998
1999 21128998
2000 21128998
2001 21128998
2002 21128998
2003 21128998
2004 21163349.114
2005 21163348.169
2006 21163317.93
2007 21163285.599
2008 21163302.542
2009 21163313.862
2010 21163308.451
2011 21163587.029
2012 21182653.533
2013 21182621.412
2014 21180603.958
2015 21180661.541
2016 21180649.92
2017 21180991.283
2018 21180586.383
2019 21180579.118
2020 21180538.871
2021 21180537.871
2022
IDA 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
IDA only
Records
63
Source