Papua New Guinea - Surface area (sq. km)

The value for Surface area (sq. km) in Papua New Guinea was 462,840 as of 2018. As the graph below shows, over the past 57 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 462,840 in 2018 and a minimum value of 462,840 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 462,840
1962 462,840
1963 462,840
1964 462,840
1965 462,840
1966 462,840
1967 462,840
1968 462,840
1969 462,840
1970 462,840
1971 462,840
1972 462,840
1973 462,840
1974 462,840
1975 462,840
1976 462,840
1977 462,840
1978 462,840
1979 462,840
1980 462,840
1981 462,840
1982 462,840
1983 462,840
1984 462,840
1985 462,840
1986 462,840
1987 462,840
1988 462,840
1989 462,840
1990 462,840
1991 462,840
1992 462,840
1993 462,840
1994 462,840
1995 462,840
1996 462,840
1997 462,840
1998 462,840
1999 462,840
2000 462,840
2001 462,840
2002 462,840
2003 462,840
2004 462,840
2005 462,840
2006 462,840
2007 462,840
2008 462,840
2009 462,840
2010 462,840
2011 462,840
2012 462,840
2013 462,840
2014 462,840
2015 462,840
2016 462,840
2017 462,840
2018 462,840

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