France - Surface area (sq. km)

The value for Surface area (sq. km) in France was 549,087 as of 2018. As the graph below shows, over the past 57 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 549,387 in 2003 and a minimum value of 549,086 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 549,086
1962 549,086
1963 549,086
1964 549,086
1965 549,086
1966 549,086
1967 549,086
1968 549,086
1969 549,086
1970 549,086
1971 549,086
1972 549,086
1973 549,086
1974 549,086
1975 549,086
1976 549,086
1977 549,086
1978 549,086
1979 549,086
1980 549,086
1981 549,086
1982 549,086
1983 549,086
1984 549,086
1985 549,086
1986 549,086
1987 549,086
1988 549,086
1989 549,086
1990 549,086
1991 549,086
1992 549,086
1993 549,086
1994 549,086
1995 549,086
1996 549,086
1997 549,086
1998 549,086
1999 549,086
2000 549,087
2001 549,087
2002 549,087
2003 549,387
2004 549,087
2005 549,087
2006 549,087
2007 549,087
2008 549,087
2009 549,087
2010 549,087
2011 549,087
2012 549,087
2013 549,087
2014 549,087
2015 549,087
2016 549,087
2017 549,087
2018 549,087

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