āPlanting the flagā usually means making a claim to something, usually territory or land.
Throughout history men have āplanted the flagā claiming ownership in the name of the king, queen, country, church, etc. marking the land as their own.
If you’re planning to “plant a flag” and claim anĀ area of earth, time is running out. Marie Byrd Land and Bir Tawil Triangle are the only two land areas on Earth not claimed by any country.
The size of a countries land mass can vary for a number of reasons. Historically territorial disputes have seen land won and lost. The biggest risk to a countries land mass in the modern day is the sea,Ā in some cases threatening a countries very existence.
ButĀ which countries have changed the most in size over the past 50 years?
Methodology
I used World BankĀ dataĀ that documents each countries land mass yearly since 1961.
To add additional context I usedĀ territorial disputes data found on Wikipedia.
Results
Land mass changes
Out of 223 countries, 37 decreased in land mass, 151 had no change and 20 grew.
Most land mass changes were small +/-1K sq. km —Ā about half the size of Monaco.
Overall,Ā total land mass of all countries shrunk 94K sq. km between 1961 and 2014.
Growing countries
| Rank land area % change | Country Name | Land area diff (sq. km) 1961 – 2014 | Land area % of total 1961 – 2014 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Macao SAR, China | 10.30 | 51.50 |
| 2 | Greenland | 68,750.00 | 20.12 |
| 3 | Bahrain | 80.00 | 11.59 |
| 4 | Singapore | 37.00 | 5.52 |
| 5 | Hong Kong SAR, China | 30.00 | 2.94 |
| 6 | Korea, Rep. | 1,006.00 | 1.04 |
| 7 | Jordan | 540.00 | 0.61 |
| 8 | Hungary | 490.00 | 0.54 |
| 9 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 200.00 | 0.39 |
| 10 | Uganda | 710.00 | 0.36 |
Greenland’s land mass has increased 68,750 sq. km since 1961 — about the size of the Republic of Ireland.Ā According to World Bank records the increase happened between 1996 and 1997 where land mass went from 341,700 sq. km to 410,450 — a 20% increase. I assume this is because of melting ice being officially recorded between these years.
Although Macao grew by only 10.3 sq. km this is a 50% increase in total land mass over the 53 year period.
ShrinkingĀ countries
| Rank land area % change | Country Name | Land area diff (sq. km) 1961 – 2014 | Land area % of total 1961 – 2014 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 199 | St. Kitts and Nevis | -90.00 | -25.71 |
| 200 | Bhutan | -8,606.00 | -18.42 |
| 201 | Ecuador | -28,480.00 | -10.29 |
| 202 | Ethiopia | -101,000.00 | -9.17 |
| 203 | Vietnam | -15,420.00 | -4.74 |
| 204 | Channel Islands | -4.00 | -2.06 |
| 205 | Bulgaria | -2,070.00 | -1.87 |
| 206 | Seychelles | -5.00 | -1.09 |
| 207 | Cuba | -951.00 | -0.89 |
| 208 | Macedonia, FYR | -210.00 | -0.83 |
Ethiopia has lost over 100K sq. km of it’s land mass since 1961.Ā The change happened between 1992 and 1993 where land mass went from 1.1M sq. km to 1M — a loss of over 9%!
The list of shrinking countries has 4 small island nations: St Kitts and Nevis, Channel Islands, Seychelles and Cuba. This is probably a result of rising sea levels. St Kitts and Nevis lost over 25% (90 sq. km) of it’s total land mass between 1961 – 2014.
The income factor
It is low income areas that will feel the impacts the most from sea level rise as they areĀ the least preparedĀ (lots of settlements on coast, little funding for protection projects, etc.).
The World Bank’s income segmentation highlights how the low and middle income countries areĀ perhaps already suffering land losses as a result.
In total the world lost -34,218 sq. km of reported land mass between 1961 – 2014 — about a 0.07% total loss.
Territorial disputes
78 countries have multiple active disputes for land. The US has the most active disputes (13), 6 of which are with Canada.
Did you know? France and Italy still dispute ownership of theĀ Mont Blanc summit
In total there are 159 active land disputes across the world.
Improvements
This post offers a very basic look at changing land masses with little context. Significant changes in land mass should be analysed alongside any relevant contextual information – sea level change, conflicts, etc… – to provide information on causation.
tl;dr
Ethiopia has shrunk the most in total land mass between 1961 and 2014 (-101,000 sq.km). St. Kitts and Nevis has shrunk the most as a % of total land mass (-26%).