Hectare (ha) - Unit Information & Conversion

Quick Answer

What is a hectare? A hectare (ha) is a metric unit of area equal to exactly 10,000 square meters—visualized as a square with 100-meter sides. It's the standard unit for measuring land worldwide in agriculture, forestry, and urban planning. One hectare equals approximately 2.471 acres, 0.01 square kilometers, or about 1.4 FIFA soccer fields. A typical small family farm might be 5-20 hectares, while a city park like London's Hyde Park is 142 hectares. Use our area converter for quick hectare conversions.

Quick Comparison Table

Area Amount	Everyday Equivalent	Square Meters	Acres
0.1 ha	Large house lot	1,000 m²	0.247 acres
0.5 ha	Small vineyard or orchard	5,000 m²	1.24 acres
1 ha	Rugby pitch, 1.4 soccer fields	10,000 m²	2.47 acres
5 ha	Small family farm	50,000 m²	12.4 acres
10 ha	Medium farm or large park	100,000 m²	24.7 acres
100 ha	Large ranch or forest preserve	1,000,000 m² (1 km²)	247 acres
1,000 ha	Small town area	10,000,000 m² (10 km²)	2,471 acres
10,000 ha	Major forest or agricultural region	100,000,000 m² (100 km²)	24,710 acres

Definition and Standards

The hectare is defined as an area of exactly 10,000 square meters:

1 ha = 10,000 m² = 100 m × 100 m

Precise Equivalents

• 1 ha = 10,000 m² (exactly, by definition)
• 1 ha = 0.01 km² = 1/100 square kilometer (exactly)
• 1 ha = 100 ares (where 1 are = 100 m²)
• 1 ha = 1 hm² (square hectometer)
• 1 ha = 2.47105 acres (US survey/international)
• 1 ha = 107,639.1 square feet
• 1 ha = 11,959.9 square yards
• 1 ha = 15,500,000 square inches

The hectare derives from the are (symbol: a), a rarely used metric unit defined as 100 m². The prefix hecto- means "hundred," so hectare literally means "hundred ares."

SI Status

The hectare is not an official SI unit—the SI unit of area is the square meter (m²). However, the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) explicitly lists the hectare as a non-SI unit accepted for use with the SI in its SI Brochure, recognizing its overwhelming practical importance in land measurement globally.

Metric Prefixes and Multiples

While technically compatible with metric prefixes, only a few are used in practice:

• Decare (daa) = 0.1 ha = 1,000 m² (used in some Eastern European and Middle Eastern countries)
• Hectare (ha) = 1 ha = 10,000 m² (standard unit)
• Square kilometer (km²) = 100 ha (preferred for very large areas)

The centiare (1 m²) and are (100 m²) exist theoretically but are rarely used today.

History and Evolution

The French Revolution and the Birth of the Metric System (1790s)

The hectare emerged from the revolutionary fervor of 1790s France. The French Revolution sought to overthrow not only the monarchy but also the chaotic patchwork of traditional measurement units that varied by region, trade, and lord. Land measurement was particularly inconsistent: the arpent varied from 34 to 51 ares depending on locality, and dozens of other regional land units created confusion and inequity.

In 1795, the revolutionary government adopted the metric system, including the are as the fundamental unit of land area, defined as 100 square meters (a square 10 meters on each side). The hectare ("hundred ares") was immediately created as a larger, more practical unit for agricultural land, equal to 10,000 square meters—a square 100 meters on each side.

The Triumph of the Hectare over the Are (19th Century)

While the are was the official base unit, it proved awkwardly small for practical agriculture and forestry. A typical farm field might be dozens or hundreds of ares. The hectare, by contrast, was the perfect size: small enough to measure individual fields precisely, large enough to describe farm sizes conveniently. Within decades, the hectare became the dominant unit, and the are faded into obscurity.

Key milestone: In 1879, the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM) formally adopted the hectare for international use, cementing its status as the global standard for land measurement.

Global Metrication: The Hectare Spreads Worldwide (1800s-1900s)

As the metric system spread from France across Europe, Latin America, and eventually Asia and Africa, the hectare went with it:

• 1800s: Adopted across continental Europe (Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Scandinavia)
• 1900-1950: Latin American countries metricated (Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Chile)
• 1950-1980: Post-colonial nations in Africa and Asia adopted the metric system, including the hectare (India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Kenya)
• 1970s: Australia and New Zealand officially switched from acres to hectares
• 1980s-present: Even partially metricated countries like Canada and the UK increasingly use hectares for official land statistics

Modern status: As of 2025, the hectare is the primary land measurement unit in over 170 countries, representing more than 95% of the world's population and land area.

Notable Holdouts and Hybrid Systems

United States: Continues to use acres almost exclusively for land measurement, despite metrication in science and industry.

United Kingdom: Officially metricated in the 1990s, but acres persist in casual speech, real estate listings, and tradition. Government statistics use hectares, while property advertisements often show both units.

Myanmar: Uses traditional Burmese land units alongside acres; hectares are rare.

Canada: Officially metricated (hectares), but older Canadians and rural areas often still reference acres informally.

The Hectare in International Agriculture and Forestry

By the mid-20th century, international organizations standardized on the hectare:

• FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization): Reports global agricultural data in hectares
• World Bank: Land area statistics in hectares
• IPCC and climate science: Forest cover, deforestation, and carbon storage measured in hectares
• International land treaties: Boundary agreements, protected areas, and resource rights defined in hectares

The hectare's dominance in these domains ensures its continued relevance even in non-metric countries, where professionals in agriculture, forestry, and environmental science routinely convert between acres and hectares.

Real-World Examples

Residential and Small Parcels

Size (ha)	Description	Square Meters	Acres (approx)
0.05 ha	Large suburban house lot	500 m²	0.12 acres
0.1 ha	Very large house lot or small hobby farm	1,000 m²	0.25 acres
0.25 ha	Small rural property	2,500 m²	0.62 acres
0.5 ha	Small vineyard, orchard, or horse paddock	5,000 m²	1.24 acres

Example: A typical suburban lot in Europe or Australia might be 600-1,000 m² (0.06-0.1 ha), while a rural "lifestyle block" for hobby farming could be 0.5-2 hectares.

Farms and Agriculture

Farm Size (ha)	Description	Typical Crops/Use
1-5 ha	Small family farm (subsistence or specialty)	Market gardens, organic vegetables, flowers
5-20 ha	Small-to-medium family farm	Mixed crops, small-scale grain, orchards, vineyards
20-50 ha	Medium farm	Grain, corn, soybeans, dairy (small herd)
50-100 ha	Medium-to-large farm	Wheat, barley, cattle grazing
100-500 ha	Large farm	Commercial grain, beef cattle ranching
500-5,000 ha	Very large farm or ranch	Extensive grain, large cattle ranches
5,000+ ha	Industrial-scale agriculture or station	Australian stations, Brazilian soy, Argentine estancias

Examples:

• French vineyard: A typical Bordeaux estate is 10-50 hectares
• US comparison: A 200-hectare farm = 494 acres, considered medium in Iowa
• Australian wheat farm: Often 1,000-5,000 hectares (2,471-12,355 acres)

Parks, Reserves, and Urban Green Spaces

Park Size (ha)	Example
1-5 ha	Neighborhood park (e.g., small city square)
10-20 ha	Large city park (e.g., Boston Common: 20 ha)
50-100 ha	Major urban park (e.g., Golden Gate Park: 412 ha)
100-500 ha	Large park or nature reserve (e.g., Hyde Park, London: 142 ha)
1,000-10,000 ha	National park, state forest (e.g., Richmond Park, London: 955 ha)
100,000+ ha	Major national park (e.g., Kruger National Park, South Africa: 1,948,528 ha)

Examples:

• Central Park, New York City: 341 hectares (843 acres)
• Bois de Boulogne, Paris: 845 hectares (2,088 acres)
• Stanley Park, Vancouver: 405 hectares (1,001 acres)

Forests and Conservation Areas

Forestry and conservation routinely measure areas in thousands or millions of hectares:

• Small forest reserve: 1,000-10,000 ha
• Medium national forest: 10,000-100,000 ha
• Large national park: 100,000-1,000,000 ha
• Amazon rainforest: ~550,000,000 ha (5.5 million km²)
• Boreal forest (global): ~1,500,000,000 ha (15 million km²)

Deforestation context: The Amazon loses approximately 500,000-1,000,000 hectares per year to deforestation (depending on year and enforcement), equivalent to 1.5-3 times the area of Rhode Island annually.

Sports Fields and Reference Areas

Venue	Area (approximate)
FIFA soccer pitch (recommended)	0.714 ha (105m × 68m)
Rugby union pitch (maximum)	0.700 ha (100m × 70m)
American football field (with end zones)	0.535 ha (109.7m × 48.8m)
Cricket oval (typical)	1.2-2.0 ha
Baseball field (infield to outfield fence)	0.8-1.2 ha
Olympic stadium (total area inside track)	~1 ha

Trafalgar Square, London is frequently used as a visual reference for one hectare, as it measures approximately 1.2 hectares including the surrounding roads.

Countries and Territories by Land Area (in hectares)

Understanding national land areas in hectares:

• Vatican City: 44 ha (0.44 km²) — smallest country
• Monaco: 202 ha (2.02 km²)
• Singapore: 72,800 ha (728 km²)
• Netherlands: 4,152,000 ha (41,520 km²)
• France: 54,919,000 ha (549,190 km²)
• Australia: 768,230,000 ha (7,682,300 km²)
• Russia: 1,709,820,000 ha (17,098,200 km²) — largest country
• World total land area: ~14,890,000,000 ha (148.9 million km²)

Common Uses

1. Agriculture: Farm Sizes and Crop Yields

The hectare is the universal standard for agricultural land measurement worldwide (except in the US). Farm sizes, field areas, crop yields, and agricultural statistics are expressed in hectares.

Crop yields are standardized as metric tons per hectare (t/ha) or kilograms per hectare (kg/ha):

• Wheat: 3-10 t/ha (depending on region and farming intensity)
• Rice: 4-8 t/ha
• Corn (maize): 8-15 t/ha
• Soybeans: 2-5 t/ha

Example: A 50-hectare wheat farm yielding 5 t/ha produces 250 metric tons of wheat annually.

2. Forestry: Timber Yields and Forest Management

Forestry professionals measure forest areas, logging concessions, reforestation projects, and timber yields in hectares.

Timber yield is expressed as cubic meters per hectare (m³/ha):

• Temperate softwood forest: 150-400 m³/ha
• Tropical rainforest: 200-600 m³/ha
• Boreal forest: 80-200 m³/ha

Example: A sustainable logging operation might harvest 5 m³/ha/year from a 1,000-hectare forest, yielding 5,000 m³ of timber annually.

3. Urban Planning: Zoning and Development

Urban planners use hectares to measure development sites, zoning areas, and infrastructure projects. Residential density is often expressed as dwellings per hectare (dw/ha) or persons per hectare (pp/ha).

Typical densities:

• Suburban single-family: 10-25 dw/ha
• Urban townhouses: 30-60 dw/ha
• Mid-rise apartments: 100-200 dw/ha
• High-rise urban core: 300-1,000+ dw/ha

Example: A 20-hectare mixed-use development with an average density of 80 dw/ha would contain 1,600 dwellings.

4. Real Estate: Land Sales and Property Listings

In metricated countries, land parcels are listed in hectares. Small properties (under 1 ha) may be listed in square meters, while large rural properties use hectares.

Example listing: "50-hectare vineyard estate in Tuscany, fully planted, irrigation, farmhouse included."

In hybrid countries like the UK and Canada, listings often show both units: "25 hectares (62 acres)."

5. Environmental Science: Protected Areas and Deforestation

Conservation organizations, national parks, and environmental treaties use hectares to define protected areas, measure deforestation, and calculate carbon storage.

Carbon storage in forests is measured as metric tons of CO₂ equivalent per hectare (tCO₂e/ha):

• Tropical rainforest: 200-600 tCO₂e/ha
• Temperate forest: 100-300 tCO₂e/ha
• Boreal forest: 50-150 tCO₂e/ha

Example: Protecting 10,000 hectares of Amazon rainforest prevents release of ~4,000,000 metric tons of CO₂.

6. International Development and Food Security

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Bank, and UN agencies report agricultural land, arable land per capita, and food production in hectares.

Arable land per capita (global average): ~0.19 ha per person (2025)

• High: Australia ~1.9 ha/person, Canada ~1.2 ha/person
• Low: Bangladesh ~0.05 ha/person, China ~0.08 ha/person

Food security context: Feeding one person for a year requires approximately 0.2-0.3 ha of arable land (depending on diet and farming intensity).

Conversion Guide

Hectares to Square Meters

1 ha = 10,000 m² (exactly)

Formula: m² = ha × 10,000

Examples:

• 0.5 ha = 5,000 m²
• 2 ha = 20,000 m²
• 15.7 ha = 157,000 m²

Hectares to Square Meters converter →

Hectares to Acres

1 ha = 2.47105 acres

Formula: acres = ha × 2.47105

Examples:

• 1 ha = 2.47 acres
• 10 ha = 24.71 acres
• 100 ha = 247.1 acres
• 500 ha = 1,235.5 acres

Reverse: 1 acre = 0.404686 ha

Hectares to Acres converter →

Hectares to Square Kilometers

1 ha = 0.01 km² (exactly) Or equivalently: 100 ha = 1 km²

Formula: km² = ha × 0.01 (or ha ÷ 100)

Examples:

• 1 ha = 0.01 km²
• 50 ha = 0.5 km²
• 100 ha = 1 km²
• 10,000 ha = 100 km²

Hectares to Square Kilometers converter →

Hectares to Square Feet

1 ha = 107,639.1 square feet

Formula: ft² = ha × 107,639.1

Examples:

• 0.1 ha = 10,764 ft²
• 1 ha = 107,639 ft²
• 5 ha = 538,196 ft²

Hectares to Square Feet converter →

Hectares to Ares and Decares

1 ha = 100 ares (exactly) 1 ha = 10 decares (exactly)

The are (100 m²) is rarely used today, but the decare (1,000 m², or 0.1 ha) remains common in Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, and parts of the Middle East for small land parcels.

Examples:

• 0.5 ha = 5 decares = 50 ares
• 2 ha = 20 decares = 200 ares

Common Conversion Mistakes

❌ WRONG: Confusing hectares with acres

"My 10-hectare farm is about 10 acres."

✅ RIGHT: Using correct conversion factor

"My 10-hectare farm is about 24.7 acres (10 × 2.47)."

Why it matters: Hectares and acres are completely different sizes. 1 ha ≈ 2.5 acres, so confusing them understates area by 60%.

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❌ WRONG: Treating hectares as square hectometers incorrectly

"1 hectare = 100 m × 100 m, so 2 hectares = 200 m × 200 m = 40,000 m²."

✅ RIGHT: Adding areas, not dimensions

"1 hectare = 10,000 m². So 2 hectares = 20,000 m². A square 2-hectare plot would be 141.4 m × 141.4 m (√20,000)."

Why it matters: You cannot double both dimensions to double area. Area scales with the square of linear dimensions.

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❌ WRONG: Confusing hectares with square kilometers

"My city park is 50 hectares, which is 50 km²."

✅ RIGHT: Using correct conversion

"My city park is 50 hectares, which is 0.5 km² (50 ÷ 100)."

Why it matters: 1 km² = 100 ha, not 1 ha. Confusing them overstates area by 10,000%.

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❌ WRONG: Assuming 1 ha = 1,000 m²

"A 5,000 m² field is 5 hectares."

✅ RIGHT: Using correct definition

"A 5,000 m² field is 0.5 hectares (5,000 ÷ 10,000)."

Why it matters: 1 ha = 10,000 m², not 1,000 m². The unit that equals 1,000 m² is the decare (daa), not the hectare.

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❌ WRONG: Mixing metric and imperial incorrectly

"1 hectare is about 2 acres, so 10 hectares is 20 acres."

✅ RIGHT: Using precise conversion factor

"1 hectare is 2.47 acres, so 10 hectares is 24.7 acres (10 × 2.47)."

Why it matters: Rounding 2.47 to 2 introduces a ~19% error. For large areas, this becomes significant (100 ha = 247 acres, not 200 acres).

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❌ WRONG: Forgetting that hectares are area, not length

"This field is 5 hectares long."

✅ RIGHT: Using correct dimensional terminology

"This field has an area of 5 hectares. Its length is 250 meters and width is 200 meters."

Why it matters: Hectares measure area (2D), not length (1D). You cannot describe a "length in hectares" any more than you can describe a "volume in meters."