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

Northern Europe: Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area was 1,730 1000 ha in 2024. ▬ Flat

Latest (2024)
1,730 1000 ha
Change on year
up 0.1%
Rank
19th
of 26 groups
All-time high
1,730 1000 ha
in 2024
All-time low
1,681 1000 ha
in 2001
Years of data
24
2001–2024

Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in Northern Europe, 2001–2024

05001.0k1.5k2001201220242001: 1.7k 1000 ha2002: 1.7k 1000 ha2003: 1.7k 1000 ha2004: 1.7k 1000 ha2005: 1.7k 1000 ha2006: 1.7k 1000 ha2007: 1.7k 1000 ha2008: 1.7k 1000 ha2009: 1.7k 1000 ha2010: 1.7k 1000 ha2011: 1.7k 1000 ha2012: 1.7k 1000 ha2013: 1.7k 1000 ha2014: 1.7k 1000 ha2015: 1.7k 1000 ha2016: 1.7k 1000 ha2017: 1.7k 1000 ha2018: 1.7k 1000 ha2019: 1.7k 1000 ha2020: 1.7k 1000 ha2021: 1.7k 1000 ha2022: 1.7k 1000 ha2023: 1.7k 1000 ha2024: 1.7k 1000 ha

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 Northern Europe is 1,730 1000 ha, measured in 2024. That is the highest value across all 24 years on record.

That represents a change of up 0.1% on the previous year and up 1.1% over ten years.

Over the whole period, artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Northern Europe peaked at 1,730 1000 ha in 2024 and was at its lowest, 1,681 1000 ha, in 2001.

That places Northern Europe 19th out of 26 groups with data for 2024, putting it in the middle of the range.

Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in Northern Europe, year by year

Annual values for Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area from MODIS in Northern Europe, 2001 to 2024.
Year 1000 ha Change
2001 1,681 1000 ha
2002 1,693 1000 ha +0.7%
2003 1,695 1000 ha +0.1%
2004 1,696 1000 ha +0.0%
2005 1,698 1000 ha +0.1%
2006 1,702 1000 ha +0.3%
2007 1,704 1000 ha +0.1%
2008 1,706 1000 ha +0.1%
2009 1,706 1000 ha +0.0%
2010 1,707 1000 ha +0.1%
2011 1,709 1000 ha +0.1%
2012 1,709 1000 ha -0.0%
2013 1,710 1000 ha +0.1%
2014 1,711 1000 ha +0.0%
2015 1,711 1000 ha +0.0%
2016 1,712 1000 ha +0.0%
2017 1,713 1000 ha +0.0%
2018 1,717 1000 ha +0.3%
2019 1,721 1000 ha +0.2%
2020 1,723 1000 ha +0.1%
2021 1,724 1000 ha +0.1%
2022 1,727 1000 ha +0.1%
2023 1,728 1000 ha +0.1%
2024 1,730 1000 ha +0.1%

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
2000s 1,698 1000 ha 1,681 1000 ha 1,706 1000 ha 9
2010s 1,712 1000 ha 1,707 1000 ha 1,721 1000 ha 10
2020s 1,727 1000 ha 1,723 1000 ha 1,730 1000 ha 5

Countries ranked near Northern Europe

  1. 16 Australia 1,125 1000 ha compare
  2. 17 Mexico 1,114 1000 ha compare
  3. 18 South Africa 1,111 1000 ha compare
  4. 19 Canada 1,099 1000 ha compare
  5. 20 Nigeria 898.22 1000 ha compare
  6. 21 Poland 840.17 1000 ha compare
  7. 22 Pakistan 716.04 1000 ha compare

See the full ranking of 269 places →

More environment data for Northern Europe

All data for Northern Europe →

Frequently asked questions

What is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Northern Europe?
Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area in Northern Europe was 1,730 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 Northern Europe?
The highest recorded value was 1,730 1000 ha in 2024.
What is the lowest artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area recorded in Northern Europe?
The lowest recorded value was 1,681 1000 ha in 2001.
How does Northern Europe rank for artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area?
Northern Europe ranks 19th out of 26 groups with data for 2024.
Is artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — area rising or falling in Northern Europe?
Over the last ten years it is up 1.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is flat.
Where does this Northern 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 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).

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in Northern Europe. Statizoid, drawing on Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Retrieved 23 August 2026, from https://environment.statizoid.com/stat/artificial-surfaces-including-urban-and-associated-areas-area-from-modis/northern-europe/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://environment.statizoid.com/stat/artificial-surfaces-including-urban-and-associated-areas-area-from-modis/northern-europe/">Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area in Northern Europe</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) — Area from MODIS
Unit
1000 ha
Source
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Licence
CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO)
Coverage
269 places, 6,390 data points, 2001–2024
Last refreshed

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.