Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in Western Europe
Western Europe: Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area was 4,182 1000 ha in 2022. ▲ Rising
Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in Western Europe, 1992–2022
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in 1000 ha.
Analysis
The most recent figure for artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Western Europe is 4,182 1000 ha, measured in 2022. That is the highest value across all 31 years on record.
The figure is up 1.0% on the previous year and up 4.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Western Europe peaked at 4,182 1000 ha in 2022 and was at its lowest, 2,077 1000 ha, in 1992.
That places Western Europe 10th 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 Western Europe, year by year
| Year | 1000 ha | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 2,077 1000 ha | — |
| 1993 | 2,133 1000 ha | +2.7% |
| 1994 | 2,192 1000 ha | +2.8% |
| 1995 | 2,256 1000 ha | +2.9% |
| 1996 | 2,319 1000 ha | +2.8% |
| 1997 | 2,381 1000 ha | +2.7% |
| 1998 | 2,451 1000 ha | +2.9% |
| 1999 | 2,525 1000 ha | +3.0% |
| 2000 | 2,599 1000 ha | +2.9% |
| 2001 | 2,853 1000 ha | +9.7% |
| 2002 | 3,167 1000 ha | +11.0% |
| 2003 | 3,502 1000 ha | +10.6% |
| 2004 | 3,863 1000 ha | +10.3% |
| 2005 | 3,888 1000 ha | +0.7% |
| 2006 | 3,907 1000 ha | +0.5% |
| 2007 | 3,926 1000 ha | +0.5% |
| 2008 | 3,960 1000 ha | +0.8% |
| 2009 | 3,970 1000 ha | +0.3% |
| 2010 | 3,980 1000 ha | +0.3% |
| 2011 | 3,990 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2012 | 4,008 1000 ha | +0.5% |
| 2013 | 4,021 1000 ha | +0.3% |
| 2014 | 4,039 1000 ha | +0.4% |
| 2015 | 4,049 1000 ha | +0.3% |
| 2016 | 4,056 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2017 | 4,067 1000 ha | +0.3% |
| 2018 | 4,073 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2019 | 4,081 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2020 | 4,081 1000 ha | +0.0% |
| 2021 | 4,142 1000 ha | +1.5% |
| 2022 | 4,182 1000 ha | +1.0% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 2,292 1000 ha | 2,077 1000 ha | 2,525 1000 ha | 8 |
| 2000s | 3,564 1000 ha | 2,599 1000 ha | 3,970 1000 ha | 10 |
| 2010s | 4,036 1000 ha | 3,980 1000 ha | 4,081 1000 ha | 10 |
| 2020s | 4,135 1000 ha | 4,081 1000 ha | 4,182 1000 ha | 3 |
Countries ranked near Western Europe
More environment data for Western Europe
- Historical exposure to drought — Cropland soil moisture anomaly -3.94 Percentage change (2025)
- Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly -3.1 Percentage change (2025)
- Standard Deviation 0.485 °C (2025)
- Temperature change 2.23 °C (2025)
- Standard Deviation, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Total fibre furnish — Production, annual growth rate -4.18 % change on previous year (2024)
- Newsprint — Import quantity, annual growth rate 9.31 % change on previous year (2024)
- Other paper and paperboard — Import quantity, annual growth rate 6.92 % change on previous year (2024)
- Printing and writing papers — Import value, annual growth rate -2.02 % change on previous year (2024)
- Printing and writing papers — Import quantity, annual growth rate 2.99 % change on previous year (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Western Europe?
- Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Western Europe was 4,182 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 Western Europe?
- The highest recorded value was 4,182 1000 ha in 2022.
- What is the lowest artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area recorded in Western Europe?
- The lowest recorded value was 2,077 1000 ha in 1992.
- How does Western Europe rank for artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area?
- Western Europe ranks 10th out of 26 groups with data for 2022.
- Is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area rising or falling in Western Europe?
- Over the last ten years it is up 4.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Western 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.