IDA total - Land area (sq. km)

The value for Land area (sq. km) in IDA total was 24,989,520 as of 2021. As the graph below shows, over the past 60 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 25,000,830 in 2015 and a minimum value of 24,858,550 in 1994.

Definition: Land area is a country's total area, excluding area under inland water bodies, national claims to continental shelf, and exclusive economic zones. In most cases the definition of inland water bodies includes major rivers and lakes.

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site.

See also:

Year Value
1961 24,966,250
1962 24,966,250
1963 24,966,250
1964 24,966,250
1965 24,966,250
1966 24,966,250
1967 24,966,250
1968 24,966,250
1969 24,966,250
1970 24,966,250
1971 24,966,250
1972 24,966,250
1973 24,966,250
1974 24,965,850
1975 24,965,590
1976 24,965,590
1977 24,965,590
1978 24,965,590
1979 24,965,590
1980 24,965,590
1981 24,965,590
1982 24,965,590
1983 24,965,590
1984 24,965,590
1985 24,965,590
1986 24,965,590
1987 24,965,590
1988 24,965,590
1989 24,965,590
1990 24,965,590
1991 24,966,470
1992 24,966,470
1993 24,865,470
1994 24,858,550
1995 24,858,550
1996 24,858,550
1997 24,858,550
1998 24,858,550
1999 24,858,550
2000 24,858,900
2001 24,858,900
2002 24,858,900
2003 24,858,710
2004 24,986,150
2005 24,986,150
2006 24,986,310
2007 24,986,350
2008 24,986,120
2009 24,986,110
2010 24,986,750
2011 24,986,990
2012 24,986,850
2013 24,986,790
2014 24,985,580
2015 25,000,830
2016 25,000,760
2017 25,000,440
2018 24,989,520
2019 24,989,520
2020 24,989,520
2021 24,989,520

Development Relevance: Land 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, land 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 does not include 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