Explanatory Notes on Main Statistical Indicators

Surface Area  is a country total area including land area and inland water bodies, but excluding offshore territorial waters.

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.

Population Density　is number of persons in the total population for a given year per square kilometre of total surface area.

Arable Area  includes land defined by the FAO as land under temporary crops (double-cropped areas are counted once), temporary meadows for mowing or for pasture, land under market or kitchen gardens, and land temporarily fallow. Land abandoned as a result of shifting cultivation is excluded. Data for “Arable land” are not meant to indicate the amount of land that is potentially cultivable.

Permanent Crop Area  is the land cultivated with long-term crops which do not have to be replanted for several years (such as cocoa and coffee); land under trees and shrubs producing flowers, such as roses and jasmine; and nurseries (except those for forest trees, which should be classified under "forest"). Permanent meadows and pastures are excluded from land under permanent crops.

Forest Area  is land under natural or planted stands of trees, whether productive or not.

Renewable Internal Freshwater Resources Flows  refer to internal renewable resources (internal river flows and groundwater from rainfall) in the country.

Deforested Area  is the permanent conversion of natural forest area to other uses, including agriculture, ranching, settlements, and infrastructure. Deforested areas do not include areas logged but intended for regeneration or areas degraded by fuel-wood gathering, acid precipitation, or forest fires.

National Protected Areas  are totally or partially protected areas of at least 1,000 hectares that are designated as scientific reserves with limited public access, national parks, natural monuments, nature reserves or wildlife sanctuaries, protected landscapes, and areas managed mainly for sustainable use. Marine areas, unclassified areas, and littoral (intertidal) areas are excluded. The data also do not include sites protected under local or provincial law.

Threatened Species  are the number of species classified by the IUCN as endangered, vulnerable, rare, indeterminate, out of danger, or insufficiently known.

Higher Plants  are native vascular plant species (flowering plants only).