2.1 Global Urban and Rural Resident Land Cover  Distribution
Based on statistics from Global Urban and Rural Resident Land Cover Distribution 2010, the total area of the global urban and rural land in 2010 is 11,875 Million km², which covers 0.88% of the total area of the global land surface. The total area of urban and rural land in Asia is 414.1 thousands km² in 2010, covers 34.87% of the total area of Asia; while in Europe, it is 324.2 thousands km², covers that of 27.30% for Europe, 78.2 thousands km² and 24.66% for North America, 292.8 thousands km² and 6.59% for Africa, 60.4 thousands km² and 5.09% for South America and 17.8 thousands km² and 1.50% for Oceania respectively (Table 1). Among them, the total area of urban and rural land in Asia, Europe and North America, accounts for 86.83% of that of the global total. The top 10 countries in this respect are the United States, China, Russia, India, Ukraine, Brazil, Germany, French, Japan and Mexico (Table 2), the total area of urban and rural land of these 10 countries accounts for 61.26% of that of the global total. 
Figure1 displays the global urban and rural land cover distribution from the latitudinal andlongitudinal directions. By the latitudinal dimension, 82.28% of the total area of the global Urban and Rural Land spreads in the mid-latitude region between 20~60°N. The total area in the Northern Hemisphere accounts for 90.69% of the global total. In particular, all countries which have relatively large areas of urban and rural land are all in the Northern Hemisphere, e.g., the United States, Canada, China, Russia, India and so on. By contrast, the Southern Hemisphere’s total area of Urban and Rural Land, 97.39% of which lies in the mid-latitude region between 0~40°S, accounts for only 9.31% of the global total. By the longitudinal dimension, the Western Hemisphere has more Urban and Rural Land than the Eastern Hemisphere, 67.66% and 32.34% respectively. In the Eastern Hemisphere, the Urban and Rural Land is distributed across the region between 60~140°E, accounting for 84.04% of the total Urban and Rural Land area of the Hemisphere. In the Western Hemisphere, the Urban and Rural Land are distributed across the region between 50~80°W and between 120~180°W, accounting for 80.43% of the total Urban and Rural Land area of the Hemisphere.

2.2 Global Urban and Rural Resident Land Cover Changes
In 2000, the total area of the global Urban and Rural Land is 1.1301 Million km², increased 57,400km² over the previous ten years with the variation rate of 5.08%. According to statistics by continents, the Urban and Rural Land change rate of each continent over the past ten years from high to low are 12.20% for Africa, 6.43% for Asia, 5.36% for North America, 4.71% for Oceania, 4.14% for South America and 1.79% for Europe respectively. Among them, the change rates of Urban and Rural Resident Land area in Africa, Asia and North America are higher than that of global average. By the increase proportion, Asia is the biggest contributor in the world, up to 43.55% of the global total; next comes North America, 26.03%, followed by Africa, Europe, South America and Oceania (Table 1). 

From 2000 to 2010, the ranking of the top ten countries in terms of the Urban and Rural Land area keeps the same order. Over the ten years, China experienced the rapidly change in 11.17% and made the contribution 28.17% to that of the world , which keeps its leading position of the major countries, while Germany and Ukraine remains very little change. Among the ten countries, China, Mexico and the United States have the change rate higher than that of global average. By the increase proportion, the increase of Urban and Rural Land area in China and the United States accounts for 28.17% and 20.48% respectively of that of the global total, this is almost half of the global total (Table 2).