Belgium - Surface area (sq. km)

The value for Surface area (sq. km) in Belgium was 30,530 as of 2018. As the graph below shows, over the past 57 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 33,120 in 1999 and a minimum value of 30,530 in 2000.

Definition: Surface area is a country's total area, including areas under inland bodies of water and some coastal waterways.

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site.

See also:

Year Value
1961 33,120
1962 33,120
1963 33,120
1964 33,120
1965 33,120
1966 33,120
1967 33,120
1968 33,120
1969 33,120
1970 33,120
1971 33,120
1972 33,120
1973 33,120
1974 33,120
1975 33,120
1976 33,120
1977 33,120
1978 33,120
1979 33,120
1980 33,120
1981 33,120
1982 33,120
1983 33,120
1984 33,120
1985 33,120
1986 33,120
1987 33,120
1988 33,120
1989 33,120
1990 33,120
1991 33,120
1992 33,120
1993 33,120
1994 33,120
1995 33,120
1996 33,120
1997 33,120
1998 33,120
1999 33,120
2000 30,530
2001 30,530
2002 30,530
2003 30,530
2004 30,530
2005 30,530
2006 30,530
2007 30,530
2008 30,530
2009 30,530
2010 30,530
2011 30,530
2012 30,530
2013 30,530
2014 30,530
2015 30,530
2016 30,530
2017 30,530
2018 30,530

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.

Aggregation method: Sum

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Environment Indicators

Sub-Topic: Land use