Heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) - Surface area (sq. km)

The value for Surface area (sq. km) in Heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) was 19,773,860 as of 2018. As the graph below shows, over the past 57 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 19,773,870 in 2012 and a minimum value of 17,887,540 in 1993.

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 18,005,140
1962 18,005,140
1963 18,005,140
1964 18,005,140
1965 18,005,140
1966 18,005,140
1967 18,005,140
1968 18,005,140
1969 18,005,140
1970 18,005,140
1971 18,005,140
1972 18,005,140
1973 18,005,140
1974 18,005,140
1975 18,005,140
1976 18,005,140
1977 18,005,140
1978 18,005,140
1979 18,005,140
1980 18,005,140
1981 18,005,140
1982 18,005,140
1983 18,005,140
1984 18,005,140
1985 18,005,140
1986 18,005,140
1987 18,005,140
1988 18,005,140
1989 18,005,140
1990 18,005,140
1991 18,005,140
1992 18,005,140
1993 17,887,540
1994 17,887,540
1995 17,887,540
1996 17,887,540
1997 17,887,540
1998 17,887,540
1999 17,887,540
2000 17,887,540
2001 17,887,540
2002 17,887,540
2003 17,887,540
2004 17,919,510
2005 17,919,510
2006 17,919,510
2007 17,919,510
2008 17,919,510
2009 17,919,500
2010 17,919,510
2011 19,773,870
2012 19,773,870
2013 19,773,860
2014 19,773,860
2015 19,773,860
2016 19,773,860
2017 19,773,860
2018 19,773,860

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