Land in Pakistan is bought and sold in kanal and marla in cities, and in acres for farmland. Converting between them is easy once you know two numbers: 20 marla make a kanal, and 8 kanal make an acre. This guide gives a full kanal to marla to acre conversion table with examples, using our free Kanal to Marla converter.
The basics
| Unit | Equals |
|---|---|
| 1 kanal | 20 marla |
| 1 acre | 8 kanal |
| 1 acre | 160 marla |
In square feet
| Unit | At 225 sq ft marla | At 272.25 sq ft marla |
|---|---|---|
| 1 marla | 225 | 272.25 |
| 1 kanal | 4,500 | 5,445 |
| 1 acre | 36,000 | 43,560 |
The 272.25 version matches the international acre of 43,560 sq ft.
Conversion table
| Kanal | Marla | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 0.5 | 10 | 0.0625 |
| 1 | 20 | 0.125 |
| 2 | 40 | 0.25 |
| 4 | 80 | 0.5 |
| 8 | 160 | 1 |
| 16 | 320 | 2 |
Worked examples
- 2.5 kanal in marla: 2.5 × 20 = 50 marla.
- 35 marla in kanal: 35 ÷ 20 = 1.75 kanal (1 kanal 15 marla).
- 3 acres in kanal: 3 × 8 = 24 kanal.
Hectares
1 acre = 0.4047 hectare, so 1 kanal (traditional) ≈ 0.0506 hectare, or about 506 m². See Acres to Hectares.
Mixed units in deeds
Revenue records may show land as “kanal-marla-sarsai”, for example 3-12-4. With 9 sarsai per marla, that is 3 kanal, 12 marla and 4 sarsai. Read land measurement units in Pakistan.
For marla in square feet, see Marla to Square Feet. For buying advice, read buying a 1 kanal plot.
Why two marla sizes exist
The traditional marla comes from revenue records, where an acre of 43,560 sq ft is divided into 160 marla, giving 272.25 sq ft. Many modern housing societies adopted a rounder 225 sq ft marla for planning plots. Both are in use, so the same “1 kanal” can mean 4,500 or 5,445 sq ft, a difference of 945 sq ft, more than four marla at the smaller size.
Quick mental maths
- Kanal to marla: multiply by 20.
- Marla to kanal: divide by 20.
- Kanal to acres: divide by 8.
- Acres to marla: multiply by 160.
Frequently asked questions
How many marla are in a kanal?
20 marla.
How many kanal are in an acre?
8 kanal.
How many square feet is 1 kanal?
4,500 sq ft at 225 per marla, or 5,445 sq ft at 272.25.