World | 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
World
Records
63
Source
World | Surface area (sq. km)
1960
1961 133974296.037
1962 133974296.037
1963 133974296.037
1964 133974296.037
1965 133974296.037
1966 133974296.037
1967 133974296.037
1968 133974296.037
1969 133974296.037
1970 133974296.037
1971 133974296.037
1972 133974296.037
1973 133974296.037
1974 133974296.037
1975 133974296.037
1976 133974296.037
1977 133972176.037
1978 133972176.037
1979 133974216.737
1980 133974206.737
1981 133974206.737
1982 133974206.737
1983 133974206.737
1984 133974206.737
1985 133974206.737
1986 133974206.737
1987 133972866.737
1988 133972876.737
1989 133972876.737
1990 133973546.737
1991 133973576.737
1992 133973626.737
1993 133973736.737
1994 133966823.737
1995 133966853.737
1996 133966933.737
1997 134035673.737
1998 134008413.737
1999 134008413.737
2000 134005397.737
2001 134005787.937
2002 134006212.937
2003 134006668.437
2004 134040792.351
2005 134042748.706
2006 134043053.667
2007 134043135.229
2008 134242621.172
2009 134240304.992
2010 134240578.781
2011 134240898.559
2012 134260457.063
2013 134617458.062
2014 134615534.898
2015 134623049.131
2016 134624250.83
2017 134627589.723
2018 134627209.182
2019 134725642.514
2020 134732038.315
2021 140486936.909
2022

World | 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
World
Records
63
Source