A hectare and an acre are both units of area commonly used in land measurement, with differing origins and sizes. The hectare, primarily used in metric systems, is equivalent to 10,000 square meters or 0.01 square kilometres. It’s commonly used in agriculture, forestry, and land planning, especially in countries using the metric system. On the other hand, the acre, primarily used in the United States and some other countries, is equivalent to 43,560 square feet or about 4,047 square meters. Converting between these two units is helpful for understanding land area across different systems.
 

How to convert hectare to acre?

Hectare and acres are often used during the purchase or sale of a large plot of land. These units are also convertible to each other, which can be done via dedicated tools like conversion calculators. Several area converter calculators are available online for hectare to acre conversion. The formula for such conversion is:

ac = ha x 2.4710

Whereby ‘ac’ denotes an acre and ‘ha’ stands for hectare.

What is meant by hectare?

A hectare refers to an area of a square comprising 10,000 units of square metres, with each side measuring 100 metres. Also, 1 square kilometre contains 100 hectares. Hectare is primarily used to measure land.

An international rugby union field comprises an area of almost 1 hectare (1.008 hectares), with the size of an average American baseball field measuring 1 hectare.

Although a non-SI metric unit, a hectare is the only unit for measurement of area accepted for use with SI units.

The term ‘hectare’ was first coined with the introduction of the metric system in 1795, and is a portmanteau of ‘hecto’ and ‘are’. ‘Hecto’ denotes a factor of one in the metric system, whereas ‘are’ refers to an area of measurement equalling 100 square metres.

The use of ‘are’ was excluded with an introduction of the International System of Units (SI) in 1960. However, a hectare continues to remain a valid unit of area measurement.

Hectare also has its origin in the Greek word “hekaton”, meaning 100.

Hectares to Other Units Conversion

What is an acre?

An acre is equal to 43,560 square feet precisely. It measures close to 40% of a hectare, i.e. 4,047 square metres, or 1/640 of a square mile.

The traditional definition of an acre is the area of 1 chain (66 feet) by 1 furlong (660 feet), which equals 10 square chains. 1 acre equals approximately 16 tennis courts, around 60% of a football field, or 150 cars parked in a square formation.

The English monarchy implemented the use of acre for area measurement in the late 1200s. In 1878, 1 hectare was defined as 4,840 square yards by the British weights and measures Act.

Also, the official measurement of an acre differed among European countries before the introduction of the metric system. At present, it is part of the US customary and imperial unit system of measurement. In India, an acre is primarily used to measure agricultural land.

Acres to other units conversion

Hectare to acre (ha to ac) conversion table

A hectare unit is converted into an acre by multiplying the former with 2.4710. How to convert hectare to acre (ha to ac)?

For instance, to convert 13 hectares to an acre, the calculation is:

13 ha = 13 x 2.4710 or 32.1237 ac

Likewise, a unit of an acre is converted to a hectare by dividing the former with 0.404686.

For instance, 13 acres expressed in hectare are:
13 ac = 13 / 0.404686 or 5.26091 ha

Use an online area converter for hectare conversion to the acre and vice versa to ensure precise and quick computation. It is often integral when purchasing a mortgage loan in the northern parts of the country.

Other area conversions

Difference between Hectare and Acre