Sri Lanka - Surface area (sq. km)

The value for Surface area (sq. km) in Sri Lanka was 65,610 as of 2018. As the graph below shows, over the past 57 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 65,610 in 2018 and a minimum value of 65,610 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 65,610
1962 65,610
1963 65,610
1964 65,610
1965 65,610
1966 65,610
1967 65,610
1968 65,610
1969 65,610
1970 65,610
1971 65,610
1972 65,610
1973 65,610
1974 65,610
1975 65,610
1976 65,610
1977 65,610
1978 65,610
1979 65,610
1980 65,610
1981 65,610
1982 65,610
1983 65,610
1984 65,610
1985 65,610
1986 65,610
1987 65,610
1988 65,610
1989 65,610
1990 65,610
1991 65,610
1992 65,610
1993 65,610
1994 65,610
1995 65,610
1996 65,610
1997 65,610
1998 65,610
1999 65,610
2000 65,610
2001 65,610
2002 65,610
2003 65,610
2004 65,610
2005 65,610
2006 65,610
2007 65,610
2008 65,610
2009 65,610
2010 65,610
2011 65,610
2012 65,610
2013 65,610
2014 65,610
2015 65,610
2016 65,610
2017 65,610
2018 65,610

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