World - Surface area (sq. km)

The value for Surface area (sq. km) in World was 134,542,700 as of 2018. As the graph below shows, over the past 57 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 134,553,200 in 2017 and a minimum value of 131,512,000 in 1994.

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 131,635,300
1962 131,635,300
1963 131,635,300
1964 131,635,300
1965 131,635,300
1966 131,635,300
1967 131,635,300
1968 131,635,300
1969 131,635,300
1970 131,635,300
1971 131,635,300
1972 131,635,300
1973 131,635,300
1974 131,635,300
1975 131,635,300
1976 131,635,300
1977 131,633,200
1978 131,633,200
1979 131,635,200
1980 131,635,200
1981 131,635,200
1982 131,635,200
1983 131,635,200
1984 131,635,200
1985 131,635,200
1986 131,635,200
1987 131,633,900
1988 131,633,900
1989 131,633,900
1990 131,634,500
1991 131,636,400
1992 131,636,400
1993 131,518,900
1994 131,512,000
1995 131,512,100
1996 131,512,200
1997 131,580,900
1998 131,553,600
1999 131,553,600
2000 131,553,700
2001 131,554,100
2002 131,554,500
2003 131,554,900
2004 131,585,100
2005 131,587,000
2006 131,587,400
2007 131,587,500
2008 131,786,900
2009 131,784,600
2010 131,784,800
2011 134,273,100
2012 134,302,000
2013 134,543,300
2014 134,546,300
2015 134,548,900
2016 134,549,700
2017 134,553,200
2018 134,542,700

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