Madagascar - Surface area (sq. km)

The value for Surface area (sq. km) in Madagascar was 587,295 as of 2018. As the graph below shows, over the past 57 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 587,295 in 2018 and a minimum value of 587,040 in 1961.

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 587,040
1962 587,040
1963 587,040
1964 587,040
1965 587,040
1966 587,040
1967 587,040
1968 587,040
1969 587,040
1970 587,040
1971 587,040
1972 587,040
1973 587,040
1974 587,040
1975 587,040
1976 587,040
1977 587,040
1978 587,040
1979 587,040
1980 587,040
1981 587,040
1982 587,040
1983 587,040
1984 587,040
1985 587,040
1986 587,040
1987 587,040
1988 587,040
1989 587,040
1990 587,040
1991 587,040
1992 587,040
1993 587,040
1994 587,040
1995 587,040
1996 587,040
1997 587,040
1998 587,040
1999 587,040
2000 587,040
2001 587,040
2002 587,040
2003 587,040
2004 587,040
2005 587,040
2006 587,040
2007 587,040
2008 587,040
2009 587,040
2010 587,040
2011 587,295
2012 587,295
2013 587,295
2014 587,295
2015 587,295
2016 587,295
2017 587,295
2018 587,295

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