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Land Use/Cover Area frame Survey 2012 Buildings, roads and other artificial areas cover 5% of the EU …and forests 40%

Eurostat Commission - STAT/13/154   25/10/2013

Other available languages: FR DE

STAT/13/154

25 October 2013

Land Use/Cover Area frame Survey 2012
Buildings, roads and other artificial areas cover 5% of the EU
…and forests 40%

In 2012, forests and other wooded land occupied around 40% of the total area of the EU, cropland a quarter and grassland a further fifth, while artificial areas1, such as buildings, road and rail networks accounted for 5%.

These data2 are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union and are based on a large scale land survey, the Land Use/Cover Area frame Survey (LUCAS)3, conducted most recently in 2012. LUCAS is the largest harmonised land survey ever implemented in the EU, with data collected in 27 EU Member States4 by 750 field surveyors at 270 000 points. At each of these points, the field surveyors recorded the land cover and land use and took photographs. These photographs can be found in the LUCAS Photo viewer5 in the Statistical Atlas on the Eurostat website. By clicking on one of the points, access will be given to the photos collected at each point as well as to additional information, such as the size of the plot and the type of land cover.

LUCAS data forms the basis for spatial and territorial analyses which are increasingly important for planning and management of agricultural, forest, water and urban areas and mitigation of the impact of natural hazards and climate change.

More than half of Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Slovenia and Latvia covered with forests

In Sweden (76% of total land area), Finland (72%), Estonia (61%), Slovenia (60%) and Latvia (56%) more than half of the country is covered by forests and other wooded areas.

The highest shares of cropland are observed in Denmark (49%), Hungary (47%), Romania (36%), the Czech Republic and Poland (both 34%), Germany (33%), Bulgaria and Italy (both 32%) and France (31%).

Ireland (67%) has more than two thirds of the country covered by natural or agricultural grasslands, followed by the United Kingdom (40%), the Netherlands (38%), Luxembourg (37%) and Belgium (32%).

Finland (16%), Sweden (12%) and the Netherlands (11%) have the largest proportions of water areas, while Cyprus (21%), Greece (19%), Malta (15%), Spain and Portugal (both 12%) had the highest proportions of shrub land.

A third of Malta is covered with built-up and other artificial areas, followed by Belgium (13%), Luxembourg and the Netherlands (both 12%).

Land cover, 2012, in % of total area

Forest and other wooded land

Cropland

Grassland

Water/ wetland

Built-up and other artificial areas1

Shrub land1

Bare land1

EU27

41

25

20

5

5

4

2

Belgium

25

28

32

1

13

0

0

Bulgaria

43

32

17

1

2

4

1

Czech Republic

39

34

20

2

4

1

1

Denmark

18

49

21

2

7

1

1

Germany

33

33

23

2

8

1

1

Estonia

61

11

16

7

2

2

1

Ireland

13

5

67

7

4

2

2

Greece

37

23

11

2

4

19

3

Spain

37

28

14

1

4

12

5

France

32

31

27

2

6

2

1

Italy

35

32

15

3

8

5

2

Cyprus

30

19

15

1

7

21

7

Latvia

56

14

21

6

2

1

1

Lithuania

39

27

27

4

3

0

1

Luxembourg

31

18

37

1

12

0

1

Hungary

24

47

19

3

4

2

1

Malta

5

27

11

1

33

15

8

Netherlands

13

23

38

11

12

2

1

Austria

48

18

23

2

6

1

3

Poland

36

34

22

2

4

1

1

Portugal

44

18

15

2

6

12

3

Romania

31

36

25

3

2

2

1

Slovenia

60

12

21

1

4

1

1

Slovakia

46

28

19

1

3

2

1

Finland

72

5

4

16

2

1

1

Sweden

76

4

5

12

2

1

1

United Kingdom

20

22

40

5

7

6

1

The shares might not sum up to 100% due to rounding.

  1. Built-up and other artificial areas include roofed constructions, such as buildings and greenhouses, non-built up areas, such as yards, car parks, cemeteries and linear features, such as roads and rail networks. Shrub land is an area dominated by shrubs and low woody plants capable of reaching heights up to 5m. Bare land is an area with no dominant vegetation or areas covered by lichens.

  2. More detailed data can be found on the Eurostat web site:

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/lucas/data/database

  1. In the Land Use/Cover Area frame Survey (LUCAS) 270 000 points were selected from a standard 2 km grid with, in total, around 1 million points all over the EU. The land cover and the visible land use were classified according to the harmonized LUCAS land cover and land use classification. For further information:

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/lucas/methodology

  1. Croatia, which joined the EU on 1 July 2013, did not take part in the 2012 survey.

  2. http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistical-atlas/gis/viewer/?myConfig=LUCAS-2012.xml. The photo viewer also provides the following information about the selected LUCAS point: the size of the plot in hectares; the date of observation; the type of land cover; the usage of the land and the NUTS 2010 region.

It also contains an order form (http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/lucas/data/LUCAS_primary_data/form) for users to request the photos.

Published by: Eurostat Press Office

Louise CORSELLI-NORDBLAD

Tel: +352-4301-33 444

eurostat-pressoffice@ec.europa.eu

For further information:

Alessandra PALMIERI

Tel: +352-4301-31 776

alessandra.palmieri@ec.europa.eu

Eurostat News Releases on the Internet: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat


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