World | Land area (sq. km)

Land area is a country's total area, excluding area under inland water bodies, national claims to continental shelf, and exclusive economic zones. In most cases the definition of inland water bodies includes major rivers and lakes. Development relevance: Land 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, land 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 does not include 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
World
Records
63
Source
World | Land area (sq. km)
1960
1961 107698362.469
1962 107698342.469
1963 107698352.469
1964 107698352.469
1965 107698342.469
1966 107698332.469
1967 107698322.469
1968 107698312.469
1969 107698312.469
1970 107698302.469
1971 107698292.469
1972 107698192.469
1973 107698122.469
1974 107697652.469
1975 107697142.469
1976 107696932.469
1977 107696802.469
1978 107696802.469
1979 107696763.179
1980 107696493.179
1981 107696573.179
1982 107696353.179
1983 107696313.179
1984 107694823.259
1985 107694723.339
1986 107694823.419
1987 107694723.499
1988 107694713.579
1989 107693723.659
1990 107693723.739
1991 107695633.819
1992 129328695.899
1993 129450319.979
1994 129438563.059
1995 129435613.139
1996 129435157.923
1997 129504497.706
1998 129478465.488
1999 129485253.269
2000 129577095.51
2001 129575915.489
2002 129573718.494
2003 129580844.862
2004 129727386.322
2005 129730128.64
2006 129829916.777
2007 129829688.965
2008 129813808.786
2009 129812249.729
2010 129814626.785
2011 129815636.71
2012 129939649.903
2013 129937877.784
2014 129937258.304
2015 129940891.185
2016 129950688.955
2017 129943403.06
2018 129944109.579
2019 129943267.917
2020 129939343.221
2021 129777684.052
2022

World | Land area (sq. km)

Land area is a country's total area, excluding area under inland water bodies, national claims to continental shelf, and exclusive economic zones. In most cases the definition of inland water bodies includes major rivers and lakes. Development relevance: Land 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, land 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 does not include 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
World
Records
63
Source