Difference between mål, dekar and hectare?

In Norway, "mål" and "dekar" mean the same: 1000 m². One hectare (ha) = 10 mål = 10,000 m² = 100 ares. One are = 100 m² (from French "are", 10m × 10m). Norwegian deeds and property registers usually use mål or dekar for house and forest plots, hectare for larger farm and moorland properties.

One acre = 4046.86 m² ≈ 4 dekar. The unit comes from medieval England and meant "the area a pair of oxen could plough in one day". It’s 43,560 square feet or 4840 square yards. The US and UK still use acres for land and farming. One American football field (without end zones) is about 1.1 acres.

What do "usable area" and "living area" mean?

In Norwegian property ads you’ll see BRA (bruksareal) and P-ROM (primary rooms). BRA includes walls, shafts, storage and everything within the outer wall. P-ROM covers only rooms you live in (living room, kitchen, bedrooms, bath) and excludes storage and garage. Square-metre pricing should compare on the same basis.

How big is a football pitch?

A FIFA-standard football pitch is 100–110 m long and 64–75 m wide, i.e. 6400–8250 m² (6.4–8.25 dekar). A "typical" reference pitch is often 105 × 68 m = 7140 m² ≈ 0.7 hectares. American football is smaller: 109.7 × 48.8 m = 5352 m². Rugby pitches are the largest, up to 100 × 70 m = 7000 m².

Area Converter - Square meters, feet, acres, hectares

Unit	m²	ft²	ha	acre
1 m²	1	10.76391	0.0001	0.000247
1 ft²	0.092903	1	0.000009	0.000023
1 ha	10 000	107 639.1	1	2.47105
1 acre	4046.856	43 560	0.404686	1
1 km²	1 000 000	10 763 910	100	247.105

Unit

m²

ft²

acre

1 m²

10.76391

0.0001

0.000247

1 ft²

0.092903

0.000009

0.000023

1 ha

10 000

107 639.1

2.47105

1 acre

4046.856

43 560

0.404686

1 km²

1 000 000

10 763 910

100

247.105

How area conversion is calculated

Area measurements describe the size of a two-dimensional surface. Conversions between metric units (such as square meters, square kilometers, and hectares) and imperial/US units (such as square feet and acres) are performed using fixed conversion factors based on the international standard meter.

1 square meter (m²) = 10,000 square centimeters (cm²)
1 square foot (ft²) = exactly 0.09290304 square meters (m²)
1 hectare (ha) = 10,000 square meters (m²)
1 acre (ac) = exactly 43,560 square feet (ft²) ≈ 4,046.856 square meters (m²)
1 square kilometer (km²) = 1,000,000 square meters (m²) = 100 hectares (ha)

About this tool

The area converter maps between metric units (mm², cm², dm², m², km²), imperial (square inch, foot, yard, mile), and land measures (mål, dekar, hectare, acre). Useful for property purchases, blueprints, agriculture, garden planning, buying carpets from US catalogs, and every kind of area calculation for deeds and permits.

How to use it

Type a value in any field.
See all other units update in real time.
Switch to the land-measures tab for mål, dekar, hectare and acre.
Copy the result with one click.

Examples

Apartment

Input75 m²

Output807.3 square feet (0.0185 acre)

Farm plot

Input10 mål (Norwegian decare)

Output10 000 m² = 1 hectare = 2.471 acre

One Norwegian mål = 1000 m² = 10 ares. In everyday speech Swedes and Finns also say "mål", though formally it’s dekar (Sweden) or hehtaari (Finland).

US school lot

Input5 acres

Output20 234 m² = 20.234 decare

Common use cases

Property purchases: converting plot sizes between mål, m² and acres.
Blueprints: square feet ↔ m² for US drawings.
Agriculture: dekar and hectare for farm and forest land.
Garden planning: computing areas for lawn, patio or greenhouse.
Carpet and floor shopping: US square feet to m².

Frequently asked questions

Difference between mål, dekar and hectare?: In Norway, "mål" and "dekar" mean the same: 1000 m². One hectare (ha) = 10 mål = 10,000 m² = 100 ares. One are = 100 m² (from French "are", 10m × 10m). Norwegian deeds and property registers usually use mål or dekar for house and forest plots, hectare for larger farm and moorland properties.
What is an acre?: One acre = 4046.86 m² ≈ 4 dekar. The unit comes from medieval England and meant "the area a pair of oxen could plough in one day". It’s 43,560 square feet or 4840 square yards. The US and UK still use acres for land and farming. One American football field (without end zones) is about 1.1 acres.
What do "usable area" and "living area" mean?: In Norwegian property ads you’ll see BRA (bruksareal) and P-ROM (primary rooms). BRA includes walls, shafts, storage and everything within the outer wall. P-ROM covers only rooms you live in (living room, kitchen, bedrooms, bath) and excludes storage and garage. Square-metre pricing should compare on the same basis.
How big is a football pitch?: A FIFA-standard football pitch is 100–110 m long and 64–75 m wide, i.e. 6400–8250 m² (6.4–8.25 dekar). A "typical" reference pitch is often 105 × 68 m = 7140 m² ≈ 0.7 hectares. American football is smaller: 109.7 × 48.8 m = 5352 m². Rugby pitches are the largest, up to 100 × 70 m = 7000 m².

Technical background

All area conversions use the square metre (m²) as SI base. Constants (all exact by definition): 1 in² = 6.4516 cm² = 0.00064516 m², 1 ft² = 144 in² = 0.09290304 m², 1 yd² = 9 ft² = 0.83612736 m², 1 mile² = 3,097,600 yd² = 2,589,988.110336 m² ≈ 2.59 km². 1 are (a) = 100 m², 1 dekar = 1000 m², 1 mål (Norway) = 1000 m² = 1 dekar, 1 hectare (ha) = 10,000 m² = 10 dekar, 1 acre = 4046.8564224 m² = 4.0468564224 dekar. Historical land units vary by country: old-Norwegian "gammel mål" (before 1875) was 984 m², Danish "tønde land" = 5516.2 m², German "Morgen" varies regionally (typically 2500–3000 m²). The tool uses double-precision floating point (IEEE 754), well beyond the precision needed for real estate (usually reported to the nearest m²).

Area Reference Table