Is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area rising or falling in Spain?

Over the last ten years it is up 31.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.

Where does this Spain 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.

Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in Spain

Name: Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in Spain
Creator: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
License: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO)

Spain: Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area was 632.48 1000 ha in 2022. ▲ Rising

Latest (2022)

632.48 1000 ha

Change on year

up 1.8%

World rank

20th

of 241 countries

All-time high

632.48 1000 ha

in 2022

All-time low

225.32 1000 ha

in 1992

Years of data

1992–2022

Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in Spain, 1992–2022

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in 1000 ha.

Analysis

Spain recorded 632.48 1000 ha for artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in 2022. That is the highest value across all 31 years on record.

That represents a change of up 1.8% on the previous year and up 31.1% over ten years.

Over the whole period, artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Spain peaked at 632.48 1000 ha in 2022 and was at its lowest, 225.32 1000 ha, in 1992.

Spain ranks 20th of 241 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 31 years of available data.

Averages by decade

Decade	Average	Lowest	Highest	Years
1990s	249.57 1000 ha	225.32 1000 ha	277.82 1000 ha	8
2000s	365.38 1000 ha	287.15 1000 ha	439.86 1000 ha	10
2010s	534.74 1000 ha	453.28 1000 ha	613.11 1000 ha	10
2020s	622.36 1000 ha	613.11 1000 ha	632.48 1000 ha	3

Countries ranked near Spain

17 Nigeria 743.44 1000 ha compare
18 Türkiye 722.44 1000 ha compare
19 Romania 668.25 1000 ha compare
21 Poland 598.94 1000 ha compare
22 Iran (Islamic Republic of) 590.66 1000 ha compare
23 Argentina 587.46 1000 ha compare

See the full ranking of 270 places →

More environment data for Spain

Land area equipped for irrigation — Share in Cropland 22.81 % (2024)
Land area equipped for irrigation — Area 3,759 1000 ha (2024)
Inland waters — Area 629.57 1000 ha (2024)
Permanent meadows and pastures — Share in Land area 19.78 % (2024)
Permanent meadows and pastures — Share in Agricultural land 40.13 % (2024)
Permanent meadows and pastures — Area 9,886 1000 ha (2024)
Permanent crops — Share in Agricultural land 20.69 % (2024)
Permanent crops — Area 5,096 1000 ha (2024)
Arable land — Share in Agricultural land 46.21 % (2024)
Arable land — Area 11,384 1000 ha (2024)

All data for Spain →

Frequently asked questions

What is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Spain?: Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Spain was 632.48 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 Spain?: The highest recorded value was 632.48 1000 ha in 2022.
What is the lowest artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area recorded in Spain?: The lowest recorded value was 225.32 1000 ha in 1992.
How does Spain rank for artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area?: Spain ranks 20th out of 241 countries with data for 2022.
Is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area rising or falling in Spain?: Over the last ten years it is up 31.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Spain 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

Indicator: Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area from CCI_LC
Unit: 1000 ha
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO)
Coverage: 270 places, 8,231 data points, 1992–2022
Last refreshed: 12 August 2026

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.