South Africa | 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
Republic of South Africa
Records
63
Source
South Africa | Surface area (sq. km)
1960
1219090 1961
1219090 1962
1219090 1963
1219090 1964
1219090 1965
1219090 1966
1219090 1967
1219090 1968
1219090 1969
1219090 1970
1219090 1971
1219090 1972
1219090 1973
1219090 1974
1219090 1975
1219090 1976
1219090 1977
1219090 1978
1219090 1979
1219090 1980
1219090 1981
1219090 1982
1219090 1983
1219090 1984
1219090 1985
1219090 1986
1219090 1987
1219090 1988
1219090 1989
1219090 1990
1219090 1991
1219090 1992
1219090 1993
1219090 1994
1219090 1995
1219090 1996
1219090 1997
1219090 1998
1219090 1999
1219090 2000
1219090 2001
1219090 2002
1219090 2003
1219090 2004
1219090 2005
1219090 2006
1219090 2007
1219090 2008
1219090 2009
1219090 2010
1219090 2011
1219090 2012
1219090 2013
1219090 2014
1219090 2015
1219090 2016
1219090 2017
1219090 2018
1219090 2019
1219090 2020
1219090 2021
2022

South Africa | 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
Republic of South Africa
Records
63
Source