Statizoid

Land area (hectares) by country

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.

Countries reporting
53
Highest
238.17 million hectares
Algeria
Lowest
46,000 hectares
Seychelles
Median
31.80 million hectares
Years covered
52
1960–2011
Data points
2,983

What the numbers show

Land area (hectares) is currently reported for 53 countries. The highest value is 238.17 million hectares in Algeria; the lowest is 46,000 hectares in Seychelles.

The median across all reporting countries is 31.80 million hectares, and the mean is 55.43 million hectares.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 5,178.

Land area: full country ranking

#Country LatestYear 10-year changeTrend
1 Algeria 238.17 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
2 Sudan 237.60 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
3 Democratic Republic of Congo 226.71 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
4 Libya 175.95 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
5 Niger 126.67 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
6 Chad 125.92 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
7 Angola 124.67 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
8 Mali 122.02 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
9 South Africa 121.31 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
10 Mauritania 103.07 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
11 Ethiopia 100.00 million hectares 2011 unchanged falling
12 Egypt 99.55 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
13 Nigeria 91.08 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
14 Tanzania 88.58 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
15 Namibia 82.33 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
16 Mozambique 78.64 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
17 Zambia 74.34 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
18 Somalia 62.73 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
19 Central African Republic 62.30 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
20 Madagascar 58.15 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
21 Kenya 56.91 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
22 Botswana 56.67 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
23 Cameroon 47.27 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
24 Morocco 44.63 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
25 Zimbabwe 38.69 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
26 Congo 34.15 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
27 Cote d'Ivoire 31.80 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
28 Burkina Faso 27.36 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
29 Gabon 25.77 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
30 Guinea 24.57 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
31 Ghana 22.75 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
32 Uganda 19.98 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
33 Senegal 19.25 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
34 Tunisia 15.54 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
35 Benin 11.28 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
36 Eritrea 10.10 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
37 Liberia 9.63 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
38 Malawi 9.43 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
39 Sierra Leone 7.16 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
40 Togo 5.44 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
41 Lesotho 3.04 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
42 Guinea-Bissau 2.81 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
43 Equatorial Guinea 2.81 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
44 Burundi 2.57 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
45 Rwanda 2.47 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
46 Djibouti 2.32 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
47 Eswatini 1.72 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
48 Gambia 1.01 million hectares 2011 unchanged flat
49 Cape Verde 403,000 hectares 2011 unchanged flat
50 Mauritius 203,000 hectares 2011 unchanged flat
51 Comoros 186,100 hectares 2011 unchanged flat
52 Sao Tome and Principe 96,000 hectares 2011 unchanged flat
53 Seychelles 46,000 hectares 2011 unchanged flat

Regions and income groups

Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.

About this data

Indicator
Land area (hectares)
Unit
hectares
Source
Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
59 places, 2,983 data points, 1960–2011
Last refreshed

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.