Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in Ireland
Ireland: Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area was 46.64 1000 ha in 2024. ▲ Rising
Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in Ireland, 2001–2024
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 Ireland is 46.64 1000 ha, measured in 2024. That is the highest value across all 24 years on record.
That represents a change of up 0.2% on the previous year and up 1.6% over ten years.
Over the whole period, artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Ireland peaked at 46.64 1000 ha in 2024 and was at its lowest, 43.45 1000 ha, in 2001.
That places Ireland 106th out of 223 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 24 years of available data.
Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in Ireland, year by year
| Year | 1000 ha | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 43.45 1000 ha | — |
| 2002 | 44.16 1000 ha | +1.6% |
| 2003 | 44.29 1000 ha | +0.3% |
| 2004 | 44.4 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2005 | 44.62 1000 ha | +0.5% |
| 2006 | 45.26 1000 ha | +1.4% |
| 2007 | 45.52 1000 ha | +0.6% |
| 2008 | 45.76 1000 ha | +0.5% |
| 2009 | 45.87 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2010 | 45.95 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2011 | 45.95 1000 ha | +0.0% |
| 2012 | 45.93 1000 ha | -0.0% |
| 2013 | 46 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2014 | 45.89 1000 ha | -0.2% |
| 2015 | 45.98 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2016 | 45.98 1000 ha | +0.0% |
| 2017 | 46.08 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2018 | 46.19 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2019 | 46.19 1000 ha | +0.0% |
| 2020 | 46.23 1000 ha | +0.1% |
| 2021 | 46.3 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2022 | 46.43 1000 ha | +0.3% |
| 2023 | 46.56 1000 ha | +0.3% |
| 2024 | 46.64 1000 ha | +0.2% |
Ireland compared with similar countries
- Ireland's 46.64 1000 ha is above the median for high income countries, which is 38.62 1000 ha, 1.2× the median. (73 countries reporting)
- Ireland's 46.64 1000 ha is below the median for Europe & Central Asia, which is 109.11 1000 ha, 43% of the median. (51 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 44.81 1000 ha | 43.45 1000 ha | 45.87 1000 ha | 9 |
| 2010s | 46.01 1000 ha | 45.89 1000 ha | 46.19 1000 ha | 10 |
| 2020s | 46.43 1000 ha | 46.23 1000 ha | 46.64 1000 ha | 5 |
Countries ranked near Ireland
More environment data for Ireland
- Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly 2.51 Percentage change (2025)
- Historical exposure to drought — Cropland soil moisture anomaly 2.17 Percentage change (2025)
- Standard Deviation, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Standard Deviation 0.412 °C (2025)
- Temperature change 1.89 °C (2025)
- Wood-based panels — Production, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), annual -1.13 % change on previous year (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), per unit 0 Mt CO2e per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), per capita 0 Mt CO2e per person (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture (Mt CO2e), annual growth rate -0.0083 % change on previous year (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Ireland?
- Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Ireland was 46.64 1000 ha in 2024, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
- What is the highest artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area recorded in Ireland?
- The highest recorded value was 46.64 1000 ha in 2024.
- What is the lowest artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area recorded in Ireland?
- The lowest recorded value was 43.45 1000 ha in 2001.
- How does Ireland rank for artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area?
- Ireland ranks 106th out of 223 countries with data for 2024.
- Is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area rising or falling in Ireland?
- Over the last ten years it is up 1.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Ireland 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 MODIS. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 24 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.