Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in European Union (27)
European Union (27): Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area was 8,934 1000 ha in 2022. ▲ Rising
Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in European Union (27), 1992–2022
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in 1000 ha.
Analysis
European Union (27) recorded 8,934 1000 ha for artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in 2022. That is the highest value across all 31 years on record.
The figure is up 1.3% on the previous year and up 8.5% over ten years.
Over the whole period, artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in European Union (27) peaked at 8,934 1000 ha in 2022 and was at its lowest, 4,033 1000 ha, in 1992.
European Union (27) ranks 7th of 26 groups on this measure, in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 31 years of available data.
Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in European Union (27), year by year
| Year | 1000 ha | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 4,033 1000 ha | — |
| 1993 | 4,347 1000 ha | +7.8% |
| 1994 | 4,464 1000 ha | +2.7% |
| 1995 | 4,589 1000 ha | +2.8% |
| 1996 | 4,716 1000 ha | +2.8% |
| 1997 | 4,848 1000 ha | +2.8% |
| 1998 | 5,000 1000 ha | +3.1% |
| 1999 | 5,156 1000 ha | +3.1% |
| 2000 | 5,316 1000 ha | +3.1% |
| 2001 | 5,749 1000 ha | +8.1% |
| 2002 | 6,302 1000 ha | +9.6% |
| 2003 | 6,911 1000 ha | +9.7% |
| 2004 | 7,583 1000 ha | +9.7% |
| 2005 | 7,704 1000 ha | +1.6% |
| 2006 | 7,787 1000 ha | +1.1% |
| 2007 | 7,880 1000 ha | +1.2% |
| 2008 | 7,983 1000 ha | +1.3% |
| 2009 | 8,044 1000 ha | +0.8% |
| 2010 | 8,103 1000 ha | +0.7% |
| 2011 | 8,160 1000 ha | +0.7% |
| 2012 | 8,237 1000 ha | +0.9% |
| 2013 | 8,330 1000 ha | +1.1% |
| 2014 | 8,447 1000 ha | +1.4% |
| 2015 | 8,524 1000 ha | +0.9% |
| 2016 | 8,537 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2017 | 8,617 1000 ha | +0.9% |
| 2018 | 8,662 1000 ha | +0.5% |
| 2019 | 8,681 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2020 | 8,681 1000 ha | +0.0% |
| 2021 | 8,821 1000 ha | +1.6% |
| 2022 | 8,934 1000 ha | +1.3% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 4,644 1000 ha | 4,033 1000 ha | 5,156 1000 ha | 8 |
| 2000s | 7,126 1000 ha | 5,316 1000 ha | 8,044 1000 ha | 10 |
| 2010s | 8,430 1000 ha | 8,103 1000 ha | 8,681 1000 ha | 10 |
| 2020s | 8,812 1000 ha | 8,681 1000 ha | 8,934 1000 ha | 3 |
Countries ranked near European Union (27)
More environment data for European Union (27)
- Standard Deviation, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Standard Deviation 0.429 °C (2025)
- Temperature change 2.31 °C (2025)
- Nutrient potash K2O (total) — Use per capita 5.35 kg/cap (2024)
- Nutrient phosphate P2O5 (total) — Use per capita 4.18 kg/cap (2024)
- Nutrient phosphate P2O5 (total) — Use per value of agricultural 5.46 g/Int$ (2024)
- Nutrient potash K2O (total) — Import quantity 3.99 million t (2024)
- Nutrient potash K2O (total) — Agricultural Use 2.41 million t (2024)
- Nutrient potash K2O (total) — Use per value of agricultural production 6.99 g/Int$ (2024)
- Land area — Area 398,812 1000 ha (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in European Union (27)?
- Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in European Union (27) was 8,934 1000 ha in 2022, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
- What is the highest artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area recorded in European Union (27)?
- The highest recorded value was 8,934 1000 ha in 2022.
- What is the lowest artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area recorded in European Union (27)?
- The lowest recorded value was 4,033 1000 ha in 1992.
- How does European Union (27) rank for artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area?
- European Union (27) ranks 7th out of 26 groups with data for 2022.
- Is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area rising or falling in European Union (27)?
- Over the last ten years it is up 8.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this European Union (27) data come from?
- The figures come from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, published as part of Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area from CCI_LC. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 31 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO).
About this data
The FAOSTAT domain on Land Cover data under the Agri-Environmental Indicators section contains land cover information organized by the land cover classes of the international standard system for Environmental and Economic Accounting Central Framework (SEEA CF). The land cover information is compiled from publicly available Global Land Cover (GLC) maps: a) MODIS land cover types based on the Land Cover Classification System, LCCS; b) The European Spatial Agency (ESA) Climate Change Initiative (CCI) annual land cover maps produced by the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL)-Geomatics and now under the European Copernicus Program; c) The annual land cover maps which were produced under the European Copernicus Global Land Service (CGLS) (CGLS land cover, containing discrete land cover categorization), with spatial resolution 100m; and d) the WorldCover maps of the European Space Agency, produced at 10m resolution.