Announcement of 2015 planimetric reports on the land area by prefectures and municipalities in Japan

  The Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI) compiled and announced planimetric reports on the land area of Japan as of October 1st, 2015 in order to continuously grasp the state of the nation’s land.
As a result, the nation's area as of October 1st, 2015 is 377,970.75km²

  The announcement of planimetric reports on Japan’s land area was first implemented by the Grand Council of State (Dajokan)'s Division of Statistics (Tokeiin) in 1882, and shares a history as long as that of population statistics. Since 1960, the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan has been releasing the information annually as planimetric reports on the land area by prefectures and municipalities in Japan. The area values, which become basic data for population density calculations in the national census report and local allocation tax calculations, are used in a variety of fields.

  Japan’s land area in 2015 changed to 377,970.75km² from 377,972.28km² in 2014. The main factors for the change in area are believed to be due to changes in the land such as filled-up land, and modifications using larger scale map data for area calculations.

• Attachment 1: Prefectural area and ranking [PDF:27KB]
• Attachment 2: Municipalities area and ranking: the 20 largest and smallest municipalities [PDF:29KB] 
• Attachment 3: Effects due to modifications using larger scale map data for area calculations[PDF:237KB]
   

The gathered results for 2015’s planimetric reports on the land area by prefectures and municipalities in Japan were released in the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan’s Web page below.　
　　　http://www.gsi.go.jp/KOKUJYOHO/MENCHO-title.htm (in Japanese)
 
The announcement of planimetric reports on the land area is implemented every year according to Long-Term Plan for Basic Survey, based on Article 12 of the Survey Act (Act No. 188, 1949).