Number and size of protected areas

Page Last modified 16 May 2017

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Topics: Biodiversity — Ecosystems

This page was archived on 16 May 2017 with reason: A new version has been published

About 1 121 500 km2 or 25,6 % of the EU 28 terrestrial land are protected under Natura 2000 or national designations or some combination of the two.

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Sites in the Natura 2000 network now account for 18 % of the EU's land territory, providing invaluable protection for vulnerable wildlife and habitats. Protected areas
more generally (including nationally and locally designated sites) now cover 21,8 % [1] of the land territory of the European Environment Agency's member countries and collaborating countries, in total 39 countries.

	Number of Sites	Total area [km²]	% of protected area inside EU28
Nationally designated areas (CDDA)	100 181	1 200 000 km²	21,8 %
Protected areas under the European Nature Directives (Natura 2000) (thereof terrestrial)	27 393	1 106 612.96 km² (788 487.39 km²)	18,14 %
Protected areas under one or both of these categories (CDDA+Natura2000)	127 574	1 121 471 km² (Net area)	25,6 %

Source: CDDA version 13, November 2015 and Natura 2000 data base: December 2014

For the area and total number of marine protected areas see here

While the number of protected areas in Europe is very high, their average size is quite low as compared to other regions of the world. This largely reflects the high degree of fragmentation of the land in Europe due to urbanisation, transport infrastructure and general intensification of land use.