Soil sealing by country

Countries reporting
38
Highest
467.24 Square metres per capita
Finland
Lowest
104.73 Square metres per capita
Türkiye
Median
253.38 Square metres per capita
Years covered
16
2006–2021
Data points
234

What the numbers show

Soil sealing is currently reported for 38 countries. The highest value is 467.24 Square metres per capita in Finland; the lowest is 104.73 Square metres per capita in Türkiye.

The median across all reporting countries is 253.38 Square metres per capita, and the mean is 256.37 Square metres per capita.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 4.

Over the past decade 22 countries rose and 16 fell. The largest increase was in Bulgaria (up 15.4%), and the largest decrease in Luxembourg (down 15.5%).

Soil sealing: full country ranking

#Country LatestYear 10-year changeTrend
1 Finland 467.24 Square metres per capita 2021 up 1.7% flat
2 Cyprus 441.37 Square metres per capita 2021 up 1.4% falling
3 Estonia 401.22 Square metres per capita 2021 up 3.7% rising
4 Latvia 376.76 Square metres per capita 2021 up 11.9% rising
5 Iceland 373.13 Square metres per capita 2021 down 11.4% falling
6 Lithuania 341.12 Square metres per capita 2021 up 10.0% rising
7 Denmark 337.9 Square metres per capita 2021 down 1.5% flat
8 Sweden 318.75 Square metres per capita 2021 down 5.5% falling
9 France 298.19 Square metres per capita 2021 down 1.1% flat
10 Norway 298.06 Square metres per capita 2021 down 3.9% falling
11 Austria 294.89 Square metres per capita 2021 down 3.7% flat
12 Portugal 285.65 Square metres per capita 2021 up 3.4% rising
13 Hungary 271 Square metres per capita 2021 up 6.0% rising
14 Ireland 268.85 Square metres per capita 2021 down 5.4% falling
15 Bulgaria 266.16 Square metres per capita 2021 up 15.4% rising
16 Croatia 264.85 Square metres per capita 2021 up 13.3% rising
17 Czechia 260.33 Square metres per capita 2021 up 2.3% flat
18 Slovenia 257.11 Square metres per capita 2021 down 0.4% flat
19 Liechtenstein 255.22 Square metres per capita 2021 down 6.4% falling
20 Luxembourg 251.54 Square metres per capita 2021 down 15.5% falling
21 Belgium 248.66 Square metres per capita 2021 down 1.9% falling
22 Germany 248.51 Square metres per capita 2021 down 1.4% flat
23 Greece 231.88 Square metres per capita 2021 up 7.2% rising
24 Slovakia 226.9 Square metres per capita 2021 up 2.2% flat
25 Italy 222.24 Square metres per capita 2021 up 3.4% flat
26 Poland 219.84 Square metres per capita 2021 up 7.6% rising
27 Serbia 219.19 Square metres per capita 2021 up 8.5% rising
28 Netherlands 215.19 Square metres per capita 2021 down 0.8% flat
29 Romania 208.19 Square metres per capita 2021 up 8.4% rising
30 Switzerland 203.8 Square metres per capita 2021 down 7.0% falling
31 Spain 201.71 Square metres per capita 2021 up 0.6% flat
32 Bosnia and Herzegovina 170.77 Square metres per capita 2021 up 14.4% rising
33 Montenegro 155.04 Square metres per capita 2021 up 3.5% flat
34 North Macedonia 151.05 Square metres per capita 2021 up 9.2% rising
35 Kosovo* 146.13 Square metres per capita 2021 up 9.5% rising
36 Albania 126.97 Square metres per capita 2021 up 7.1% rising
37 Malta 111.94 Square metres per capita 2021 down 14.5% falling
38 Türkiye 104.73 Square metres per capita 2021 down 3.0% falling

About this data

Indicator
Soil sealing
Unit
Square metres per capita
Source
Eurostat
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Eurostat)
Coverage
39 places, 234 data points, 2006–2021
Last refreshed