Analytics, EU – Baltic States, Markets and Companies, Real Estate

The Land Use/Cover Area Survey (LUCAS) was conducted in 2009. In the survey, 500 field surveyors in the EU member states visited 235 thousand points. Those spots 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 nomenclatures.

Forests and other wooded areas1 occupy almost 40% of the total area of the EU, cropland nearly a quarter and grassland a further fifth, while built-up and other artificial areas, such as roads and railways, account for 4%. Regarding socio-economic use, over 40% of the land in the EU is used for agriculture and almost 30% for forestry. The use of land for residential, commercial and industrial purposes accounts for just over 10% of the total area of the EU.

These data4 are published for the first time 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), conducted in 2009. Land was surveyed in 23 EU Member States, where both the physical cover of the land and its visible socio-economic use were recorded. LUCAS is the largest harmonised land survey ever implemented in the EU. The resulting dataset is unique as it is fully harmonised and comparable with the same definitions and methodology among Member States. 4 October 2010

Almost 40% of the EU covered by forests and other wooded areas

In Finland (68%), Sweden (66%), Slovenia (63%), Estonia (55%) and Latvia (52%) more than half of the country is covered by forests and other wooded areas.

The highest shares of land cover by crops are observed in Denmark (48%), Hungary (47%), Poland (36%), the Czech Republic (35%), Germany and Italy (both 33%), Spain and France (both 30%).

Ireland (64%) has almost two thirds of the country covered by natural or agricultural grasslands, followed by the United Kingdom (42%), the Netherlands (38%) and Belgium (33%). The largest shares of shrubland are found in Greece (21%), Spain (14%), Portugal (11%) and the United Kingdom (10%).

The Netherlands (13%) and Belgium (10%) have the largest shares of land covered with built-up and other artificial areas.

More than 10% of EU land used for residential, commercial and industrial purposes

The socio-economic use of land reflects to a large extent the physical land cover. However, there are some differences. For example, the use of land for residential, commercial and industrial purposes differs from land covered by built-up and other artificial areas, because some areas covered by vegetation and/or water are used for residential purposes (gardens, parks, small lakes, etc.).

The EU member states with the highest shares of areas used for residential, commercial and industrial purposes are the Netherlands (37%), Belgium (25%), Denmark and the United Kingdom (both 16%) and Sweden (15%).

Land cover in the Baltic Sea Area, 2009, in % of total area

Land use in the Baltic Sea Area, 2009, in % of total area

** Also including recreation and sport areas

*** Also including water and waste treatment and construction

Detailed data can be found on the Eurostat web site: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat /Statistics database/General and regional statistics/Land cover and land use, soil and landscape.