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Last Updated : February 20, 2017

Announcement of 2016 planimetric reports on the land area by prefectures and municipalities in Japan

The nation’s area proved to be 377,971.57km²

Outline

The Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI) compiled planimetric reports on the land area of Japan as of October 1st, 2016 in order to continuously grasp the state of the nation’s land, and made them publicly available.
As a result, the nation's area as of October 1st, 2016 was proved to be 377,971.57km2.

History and Usage

The planimetric reports on Japan’s land area was first announced by the Grand Council of State (Dajokan)'s Division of Statistics (Tokeiin) in 1882, and have a long history along with population statistics.
Since 1960, Geospatial Information Authority of Japan has announced the information annually as planimetric reports on the land area by prefectures and municipalities in Japan. This announcement is according to Long-Term Plan for Basic Survey, which is based on Article 12 of the Survey Act (Act No. 188, 1949).
The information released is used in a variety of fields, such as basic data for calculations of population density in the national census report and local allocation tax.

Cause of Change in Land Area Value

It was found that Japan’s land area was 377,971.57 km2 as of 2016, which was slightly increased from the area of the previous year, 377,970.75 km2. This increase is mainly due to coastal land reclamation.

Related Page

The 2016 planimetric reports on the land area by prefectures and municipalities in Japan are available at the web page below.
   http://www.gsi.go.jp/KOKUJYOHO/MENCHO-title.htm (in Japanese)

Attachments

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