IDA total - Surface area (sq. km)

The value for Surface area (sq. km) in IDA total was 25,533,530 as of 2018. As the graph below shows, over the past 57 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 25,544,960 in 2012 and a minimum value of 23,026,420 in 1994.

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 23,150,060
1962 23,150,060
1963 23,150,060
1964 23,150,060
1965 23,150,060
1966 23,150,060
1967 23,150,060
1968 23,150,060
1969 23,150,060
1970 23,150,060
1971 23,150,060
1972 23,150,060
1973 23,150,060
1974 23,150,060
1975 23,150,060
1976 23,150,060
1977 23,150,060
1978 23,150,060
1979 23,150,060
1980 23,150,060
1981 23,150,060
1982 23,150,060
1983 23,150,060
1984 23,150,060
1985 23,150,060
1986 23,150,060
1987 23,150,060
1988 23,150,060
1989 23,150,060
1990 23,150,060
1991 23,150,940
1992 23,150,940
1993 23,033,340
1994 23,026,420
1995 23,026,420
1996 23,026,420
1997 23,026,420
1998 23,026,420
1999 23,026,420
2000 23,026,420
2001 23,026,420
2002 23,026,420
2003 23,026,420
2004 23,056,700
2005 23,056,700
2006 23,056,700
2007 23,056,700
2008 23,056,700
2009 23,056,690
2010 23,056,700
2011 25,544,960
2012 25,544,960
2013 25,541,660
2014 25,544,480
2015 25,544,480
2016 25,544,480
2017 25,544,830
2018 25,533,530

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