Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in Southern Europe
Southern Europe: Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area was 2,383 1000 ha in 2022. ▲ Rising
Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in Southern Europe, 1992–2022
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in 1000 ha.
Analysis
Southern Europe recorded 2,383 1000 ha for artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in 2022. That is the highest value across all 31 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 1.3% on the previous year and up 18.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Southern Europe peaked at 2,383 1000 ha in 2022 and was at its lowest, 1,058 1000 ha, in 1992.
That places Southern Europe 15th out of 26 groups with data for 2022, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 31 years of available data.
Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in Southern Europe, year by year
| Year | 1000 ha | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 1,058 1000 ha | — |
| 1993 | 1,085 1000 ha | +2.6% |
| 1994 | 1,115 1000 ha | +2.8% |
| 1995 | 1,147 1000 ha | +2.9% |
| 1996 | 1,180 1000 ha | +2.9% |
| 1997 | 1,214 1000 ha | +2.9% |
| 1998 | 1,252 1000 ha | +3.1% |
| 1999 | 1,290 1000 ha | +3.0% |
| 2000 | 1,329 1000 ha | +3.0% |
| 2001 | 1,390 1000 ha | +4.6% |
| 2002 | 1,472 1000 ha | +5.8% |
| 2003 | 1,547 1000 ha | +5.1% |
| 2004 | 1,622 1000 ha | +4.9% |
| 2005 | 1,693 1000 ha | +4.3% |
| 2006 | 1,743 1000 ha | +3.0% |
| 2007 | 1,805 1000 ha | +3.5% |
| 2008 | 1,850 1000 ha | +2.5% |
| 2009 | 1,891 1000 ha | +2.2% |
| 2010 | 1,930 1000 ha | +2.1% |
| 2011 | 1,968 1000 ha | +2.0% |
| 2012 | 2,013 1000 ha | +2.3% |
| 2013 | 2,080 1000 ha | +3.3% |
| 2014 | 2,160 1000 ha | +3.9% |
| 2015 | 2,214 1000 ha | +2.5% |
| 2016 | 2,215 1000 ha | +0.1% |
| 2017 | 2,275 1000 ha | +2.7% |
| 2018 | 2,311 1000 ha | +1.6% |
| 2019 | 2,315 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2020 | 2,315 1000 ha | +0.0% |
| 2021 | 2,352 1000 ha | +1.6% |
| 2022 | 2,383 1000 ha | +1.3% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 1,168 1000 ha | 1,058 1000 ha | 1,290 1000 ha | 8 |
| 2000s | 1,634 1000 ha | 1,329 1000 ha | 1,891 1000 ha | 10 |
| 2010s | 2,148 1000 ha | 1,930 1000 ha | 2,315 1000 ha | 10 |
| 2020s | 2,350 1000 ha | 2,315 1000 ha | 2,383 1000 ha | 3 |
Countries ranked near Southern Europe
- 12 Australia and New Zealand 1,173 1000 ha compare
- 13 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 1,044 1000 ha compare
- 14 Italy 1,037 1000 ha compare
- 15 Canada 985.04 1000 ha compare
- 16 Australia 960.29 1000 ha compare
- 17 South Africa 783.83 1000 ha compare
- 18 Nigeria 743.44 1000 ha compare
More environment data for Southern Europe
- Historical exposure to drought — Cropland soil moisture anomaly -0.1235 Percentage change (2025)
- Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly -0.3167 Percentage change (2025)
- Standard Deviation 0.323 °C (2025)
- Temperature change 2.19 °C (2025)
- Standard Deviation, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Newsprint — Import quantity, annual growth rate 5.06 % change on previous year (2024)
- Other paper and paperboard — Import quantity, annual growth rate 8.67 % change on previous year (2024)
- Printing and writing papers — Import value, annual growth rate -1.13 % change on previous year (2024)
- Printing and writing papers — Import quantity, annual growth rate 5.41 % change on previous year (2024)
- Newsprint — Import value, annual growth rate -8.51 % change on previous year (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Southern Europe?
- Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Southern Europe was 2,383 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 Southern Europe?
- The highest recorded value was 2,383 1000 ha in 2022.
- What is the lowest artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area recorded in Southern Europe?
- The lowest recorded value was 1,058 1000 ha in 1992.
- How does Southern Europe rank for artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area?
- Southern Europe ranks 15th out of 26 groups with data for 2022.
- Is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area rising or falling in Southern Europe?
- Over the last ten years it is up 18.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Southern Europe 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.