Plastics have brought many benefits to our daily lives but the problem is that these products never truly
disappear. Therefore, we should perhaps think about plastics as a type of pollutant from the point of
their production and prevent plastic products and waste from leaking into the environment.
Data Visualization
17 Aug 2020
Data Visualization
17 Aug 2020
Contribution of primary global suppliers of critical raw materials, average from 2010 to 2014
Indicator Assessment
23 Dec 2019
Overall, water abstraction and economic growth in the EU showed absolute decoupling over the period 2000–2017. Total water abstraction declined by 17 %, while total gross value added generated from all economic sectors increased by 59 %. However, water scarcity conditions and drought events continue to cause significant risks in southern Europe, as well as in specific areas of other European regions.
Agriculture remained the sector exerting the highest pressure on renewable freshwater resources overall, being responsible for 59 % of total water use in Europe in 2017. This is mainly because of agriculture levels in southern Europe.
In 2017, 64 % of total water abstraction was from rivers and 24 % from groundwater.
Annual renewable freshwater resources per inhabitant showed a decreasing trend across all regions except eastern Europe over the period 1990-2017. Large decreases were observed in Spain (-65 %), Malta (-54 %) and Cyprus (-32 %). Climate change and population increase exerted high pressures on renewable freshwater resources in Europe over this period.
The increasing frequency and magnitude of extreme droughts and floods enhance the risk of there being reduced volumes of renewable freshwater resources in the future.
Indicator Assessment
20 Dec 2019
Crop production in Europe became 12% less water intensive between 2005 and 2016. The total water input to crops under rainfed and irrigated conditions for each unit of gross value added generated from crop production, excluding subsidies, decreased from 5 m 3 to 4.4 m 3 over the period.
Western Europe demonstrated the lowest water intensity of crop production over the period, with 3.5 m 3 of total water input for each unit of gross value added generated. However, there was no significant change in the trend between 2005 and 2016.
In eastern Europe, crop production became 31 % less water intensive between 2005 and 2016. The total water input to crops fell from 7.3 m 3 to 5.0 m 3 for each unit of gross value added generated over the period.
Crop production also became 13 % and 11% less water intensive in northern Europe and southern Europe, respectively between 2005 and 2016. In northern Europe, total water input to crops fell from 11.2 m 3 to 9.7 m 3 over the period, while in southern Europe it fell from 4.2 m 3 to 3.8 m 3 .
The figure shows the generation of total waste excluding major mineral waste compared to the developments in GDP and population.
Comparison of resource productivity, country by country, ordered from highest to lowest in 2017
GIS Map Application
18 Nov 2019
This map contains information on countries’ performance and policies around municipal waste management, waste prevention, and resource efficiency and circular economy. Select one of the EEA member or cooperating countries in order to view its country profile for each of these policy areas.
The CORINE Land Cover (CLC) inventory was initiated in 1985 (reference year 1990) to standardize data collection on land in Europe to support environmental policy development. Updates were produced in 2000, 2006, 2012 and 2018. Change layers were produced for 2000, 2006, 2012 and 2018.
The data set provides data elements required to populate the Horizon 2020 Mediterranean Initiative indicators.
Document Actions
Share with others