Sub-Saharan Africa (IDA & IBRD countries) | 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
Sub-Saharan Africa (IDA & IBRD countries)
Records
63
Source
Sub-Saharan Africa (IDA & IBRD countries) | Surface area (sq. km)
1960
24273011 1961
24273011 1962
24273011 1963
24273011 1964
24273011 1965
24273011 1966
24273011 1967
24273011 1968
24273011 1969
24273011 1970
24273011 1971
24273011 1972
24273011 1973
24273011 1974
24273011 1975
24273011 1976
24273011 1977
24273011 1978
24273011 1979
24273011 1980
24273011 1981
24273011 1982
24273011 1983
24273011 1984
24273011 1985
24273011 1986
24273011 1987
24273011 1988
24273011 1989
24273011 1990
24273011 1991
24273011 1992
24273011 1993
24273011 1994
24273011 1995
24273011 1996
24273011 1997
24273011 1998
24273011 1999
24273011 2000
24273011 2001
24273011 2002
24273011 2003
24309045.114 2004
24309044.169 2005
24309013.93 2006
24308981.599 2007
24308998.542 2008
24309010.862 2009
24309005.451 2010
24309251.029 2011
24328317.533 2012
24328285.412 2013
24328271.958 2014
24328325.541 2015
24328312.92 2016
24328307.283 2017
24328313.383 2018
24328307.118 2019
24328265.871 2020
24328265.871 2021
2022
Sub-Saharan Africa (IDA & IBRD countries) | 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
Sub-Saharan Africa (IDA & IBRD countries)
Records
63
Source