Surface area (sq. km) - Country Ranking - Central America & the Caribbean

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: Thematic map, Time series comparison

Find indicator:
Rank Country Value Year
1 Nicaragua 130,370.00 2018
2 Honduras 112,490.00 2018
3 Cuba 109,880.00 2018
4 Guatemala 108,890.00 2018
5 Panama 75,320.00 2018
6 Costa Rica 51,100.00 2018
7 Dominican Republic 48,670.00 2018
8 Haiti 27,750.00 2018
9 Belize 22,970.00 2018
10 El Salvador 21,040.00 2018
11 The Bahamas 13,880.00 2018
12 Jamaica 10,990.00 2018
13 Puerto Rico 8,870.00 2018
14 Trinidad and Tobago 5,130.00 2018
15 Dominica 750.00 2018
16 St. Lucia 620.00 2018
17 Antigua and Barbuda 440.00 2018
18 Barbados 430.00 2018
19 St. Vincent and the Grenadines 390.00 2018
20 Grenada 340.00 2018
21 Cayman Islands 264.00 2018
22 St. Kitts and Nevis 260.00 2018

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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