Progress
Fair progress but acceleration needed
Fair progress but acceleration needed

Desired direction: Sustainment o increase

Sub-categories

Choose categories from the dropdowns below to see different breakdowns of the data. Some will not be available until a higher level is chosen.

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Download source data for disaggregations (.csv)

Headline data

Surface of the terrestrial protected areas (km2 and percentage) (EU indicator sdg_15_20)
Year Value Units Series
2018 1713.6 Square kilometers Area of protected terrestrial areas (km2)
2021 1714.1 Square kilometers Area of protected terrestrial areas (km2)
2015 1698.7 Square kilometers Area of protected terrestrial areas (km2)
2015 23.5 % Proportion of protected terrestrial area relative to terrestrial area
2018 23.7 % Proportion of protected terrestrial area relative to terrestrial area
2021 23.7 % Proportion of protected terrestrial area relative to terrestrial area

Geographical Area:

Unit of Measurement:

Footnote:

Methodological sheet of the indicator available for the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country.

Available indicator

Surface of the terrestrial protected areas (km2 and percentage) (EU indicator sdg_15_20)
Definition

Land area included in protected areas (Natura 2000 Network and Protected Natural Areas), and percentage of the total land area
Theoretical formula \[PSTP^{t} = \frac{STP^{t}}{ST^{t}} \cdot 100\]

where:

$STP^{t} =$ land area included in protected areas in year $t$

$ST^{t} =$ total land area in year $t$

The disaggregation by type of ecosystem is carried out on the total surface of the ecosystem, according to the following formula:

\[PSTP_{ecosystem}^{t} = \frac{STP_{ecosystem}^{t}}{ST_{ecosystem}^{t}} \cdot 100\]

where:

$STP_{ecosystem}^{t} =$ surface area of ​​a given ecosystem included in protected areas in year $t$

$ST_{ecosystem}^{t} =$ total surface area of ​​a given ecosystem in year $t$
Available disaggregations

Ecosystem
Frequency

Triennial
Data last updated 2025/05/08
Metadata last updated 2025/06/13

This section provides more information about the United Nations indicator or the European Union Sustainable Development Indicator, such as its rationale, international results, metadata, and other relevant statistics.

Rationale

This indicator measures the extent of terrestrial protected areas, comprising nationally designated protected areas and Natura 2000 sites. A nationally designated area is an area protected by national legislation.

The Natura 2000 sites are designated to safeguard Europe’s species and habitats, listed under the EU Habitats and Birds Directives.

Source: Eurostat
Comparability between the available indicator and the UN indicator

The available indicator is comparable with the European indicator.
International results

Surface of the terrestrial protected areas (sdg_15_20) Eurostat
Link to UN metadata

Metadata Eurostat (sdg_15_20)
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