Malawi - Surface area (sq. km)

The value for Surface area (sq. km) in Malawi was 118,480 as of 2018. As the graph below shows, over the past 57 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 118,480 in 2018 and a minimum value of 118,480 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 118,480
1962 118,480
1963 118,480
1964 118,480
1965 118,480
1966 118,480
1967 118,480
1968 118,480
1969 118,480
1970 118,480
1971 118,480
1972 118,480
1973 118,480
1974 118,480
1975 118,480
1976 118,480
1977 118,480
1978 118,480
1979 118,480
1980 118,480
1981 118,480
1982 118,480
1983 118,480
1984 118,480
1985 118,480
1986 118,480
1987 118,480
1988 118,480
1989 118,480
1990 118,480
1991 118,480
1992 118,480
1993 118,480
1994 118,480
1995 118,480
1996 118,480
1997 118,480
1998 118,480
1999 118,480
2000 118,480
2001 118,480
2002 118,480
2003 118,480
2004 118,480
2005 118,480
2006 118,480
2007 118,480
2008 118,480
2009 118,480
2010 118,480
2011 118,480
2012 118,480
2013 118,480
2014 118,480
2015 118,480
2016 118,480
2017 118,480
2018 118,480

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