South Asia (IDA & IBRD) | 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
South Asia (IDA & IBRD)
Records
63
Source
South Asia (IDA & IBRD) | Surface area (sq. km)
1960
1961 5144770
1962 5144770
1963 5144770
1964 5144770
1965 5144770
1966 5144770
1967 5144770
1968 5144770
1969 5144770
1970 5144770
1971 5144770
1972 5144770
1973 5144770
1974 5144770
1975 5144770
1976 5144770
1977 5144770
1978 5144770
1979 5144770
1980 5144770
1981 5144770
1982 5144770
1983 5144770
1984 5144770
1985 5144770
1986 5144770
1987 5144770
1988 5144770
1989 5144770
1990 5144770
1991 5144770
1992 5144770
1993 5144770
1994 5137847
1995 5137847
1996 5137847
1997 5137847
1998 5137847
1999 5137847
2000 5137847
2001 5137847
2002 5137847
2003 5137847
2004 5136164
2005 5136164
2006 5136164
2007 5136164
2008 5136164
2009 5136164
2010 5136164
2011 5136164
2012 5136164
2013 5136164
2014 5135334
2015 5135334
2016 5135334
2017 5135681
2018 5135270
2019 5135270
2020 5135270
2021 5135270
2022

South Asia (IDA & IBRD) | 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
South Asia (IDA & IBRD)
Records
63
Source