KAZALCI OKOLJA

Key message
Neutral

In Slovenia, we cultivate slightly more than 8 ares (0.08 hectares) of arable land per capita, which is less than half of the average in the European Union (EU), which is 20 ares of arable land per capita (data for year 2019). This area did not change significantly between 2000 and 2019, which indicates that Slovenia maintains its production potential.


Definition

Agricultural land is a basic source of food security in the country. The indicator shows the area of arable land per capita and is calculated as the quotient between the area of arable land and the number of inhabitants. The area of arable land per capita is calculated for Slovenia for the period 2000–2020 and a comparison with the other EU member states is given for the selected years (2000, 2010, 2019). The indicator also shows the structure of agricultural land use on agricultural holdings by main land categories (arable land, permanent crops and permanent grassland) and is expressed as a share in total utilized agricultural area.


Charts

Figure KM27-1: Arable area per capita in Slovenia and European Union in the period 2000–2019
Sources:

SORS, Eurostat; calculations by AIS, 2021 (16. 04. 2021)

Show data
Slovenia[ha] EU–28[ha]
2000 0.09 0.22
2001 0.09 0.22
2002 0.08 0.21
2003 0.09 0.21
2004 0.09 0.21
2005 0.09 0.20
2006 0.09 0.21
2007 0.09 0.20
2008 0.09 0.20
2009 0.09 0.20
2010 0.08 0.21
2011 0.08 0.21
2012 0.08 0.21
2013 0.08 0.21
2014 0.08 0.21
2015 0.08 0.21
2016 0.08 0.21
2017 0.08 0.21
2018 0.08 0.20
2019 0.08 0.20
2020 0.08
Figure KM27-2: Arable land per capita in Slovenia and the countries of the European Union in 2000, 2010 and 2019
Sources:

Eurostat; calculations by AIS, 2021 (16. 04. 2021)

Note:

2019: Data on arable land area for Portugal is not available thus the arable land area for EU–28 is acccordingly smaller.

Show data
2000 [ha] 2010 [ha] 2019 [ha]
Malta 0.02 0.02 0.02
Netherlands 0.06 0.06 0.06
Belgium 0.08 0.08 0.08
Slovenia 0.09 0.08 0.08
United Kingdom 0.11 0.10 0.09
Irland 0.28 0.10 0.09
Portugal 0.17 0.11 np
Luxembourg 0.16 0.12 0.10
Cyprus 0.13 0.10 0.11
Italy 0.15 0.12 0.12
Germany 0.14 0.14 0.14
Austria 0.17 0.16 0.15
Greece 0.20 0.17 0.17
Croatia 0.19 0.21 0.20
Czech Republic 0.30 0.24 0.23
Slovakia 0.27 0.25 0.25
Sweden 0.29 0.28 0.25
Spain 0.33 0.27 0.26
France 0.30 0.29 0.27
Poland 0.37 0.29 0.29
Finland 0.42 0.42 0.41
Denemark 0.46 0.44 0.41
Hungary 0.44 0.43 0.44
Romania 0.42 0.45 0.46
Bulgaria 0.42 0.43 0.49
Estonia 0.60 0.48 0.52
Latvia 0.41 0.55 0.69
Lithuania 0.48 0.68 0.79
EU–28 0.23 0.21 0.20
Figure KM27-3: Arable land per capita in Slovenia and the countries of the European Union in 2000, 2010 and 2016
Sources:

Eurostat; calculations by AIS, 2021 (16. 04. 2021)

Show data
2000[ha] 2010[ha] 2016[ha]
Malta np 0.96 1.05
Slovenia 2.19 2.88 3.17
Romania np 3.01 3.29
Cyprus np 5.35 5.06
Greece 4.56 5.49 5.95
Portugal 5.61 5.80 6.30
Croatia np 4.81 8.58
Poland np 7.99 8.85
Italy 5.94 8.46 10.12
Bulgaria np 12.46 np
Lithuania np 11.51 16.16
Hungary 6.31 11.96 16.44
Austria 11.15 16.40 19.38
Irland 15.21 15.35 22.45
Netherlands 14.44 21.18 24.39
Spain 18.63 24.35 25.95
Latvia 7.32 19.86 26.23
Belgium 17.91 24.13 26.35
Sweden 33.99 38.16 42.55
Luxembourg 29.51 39.49 43.04
Finland 27.25 35.74 43.91
Germany 33.16 51.66 57.24
France np 51.55 57.51
United Kingdom 54.88 65.35 67.04
Estonia np 49.42 72.27
Slovakia 28.12 70.27 74.15
Denemark 44.70 64.74 75.90
Czech Republic np 167.83 145.40
EU–28 13.28 12.78 14.76
Figure KM27-4: The structure of agricultural land use on agricultural holdings in the EU–28 in 2016
Sources:

Eurostat; calculations by AIS, 2021 (16. 04. 2021)

Show data
Arable land[%] Permanent crops[%] Permanent grassland[%]
Irland 9.38 0.03 90.58
Portugal 28.65 19.36 51.54
Slovenia 35.86 5.49 58.37
United Kingdom 36.77 0.23 63.00
Greece 38.70 20.32 40.83
Luxembourg 47.44 1.18 51.37
Spain 49.35 17.86 32.79
Austria 50.36 2.50 47.11
Croatia 56.41 4.60 38.87
Italy 56.71 17.47 25.66
Netherlands 57.24 2.13 40.63
Romania 62.49 2.41 33.96
Belgium 63.16 1.51 35.33
Latvia 66.53 0.39 32.82
France 65.61 3.44 30.93
Estonia 68.99 0.35 30.58
Germany 70.71 1.21 28.07
Slovakia 71.25 0.97 27.76
Czech Republic 71.58 1.08 27.35
Bulgaria 72.22 2.23 25.46
Lithuania 72.84 0.87 26.29
Poland 75.01 2.73 22.04
Cyprus 75.27 23.46 1.23
Malta 81.48 11.72 0
Hungary 81.83 3.22 14.77
Sweden 84.91 0.13 14.96
Denemark 90.31 1.06 8.63
Finland 98.67 0.17 1.17
EU–28 59.58 34.21 6.07

Goals

The Resolution on the National Program on Strategic Directions for the Development of Slovenian Agriculture and Food "Our Food, Rural and Natural Resources from 2021" states the following:

  • In order to achieve an adequate level of food self-sufficiency in the country, maintaining an adequate amount of agricultural land and its production potential, especially arable land, is a key mechanism for the long-term stability of food production;
  • Protecting the best agricultural land from construction or other forms of permanent loss must become a key guideline in spatial interventions, which will be one of the main objectives of agricultural land policy.
  • Investments in infrastructure for agriculture are also important, especially land operations, to improve production potential. Therefore, besides land policy, also the national spatial policy plays an important role, providing guidelines for the implementation of efficient and economical use of resources, agricultural land and space.

The area of arable land in Slovenia did not change significantly between 2000 and 2020. According to the data of Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (SORS) on the use of agricultural land, there were slightly over 176 thousand hectares of arable land in Slovenia in 2020, which is 3 % more than in 2000. In 2020, almost two million and one hundred thousand people lived in Slovenia, which is 108 thousand more (around 5 %) than in 2000.

In 2000, the average area of arable land per capita was just over 8 ares (0.08 hectares) per capita and practically did not change in the entire analyzed period 2000–2019.

In comparison with other Member States of the European Union, Slovenia belongs to the countries with the smallest share of arable land per capita (2019: Malta: 2 ares per capita, Netherlands: 6 ares per capita). In 2019, the Baltic States (Lithuania (79 ares per capita, Latvia (69 ares per capita) and Estonia 52 ares per capita) had the largest share of arable land per capita. In 2019, compared to the year 2000, the area of arable land per capita in Lithuania increased by 65%, and in Latvia by as much as 69%. In the same period, the largest decline was recorded in Ireland. In 2019, only 9 ares of arable land per capita were cultivated in Ireland, which is more than two thirds less than in 2000, when they had28 ares per capita.

According to the 2016 Census of Agricultural Holdings, the structure of agricultural land use in the EU–28 on average comprises arable land 58%, meadows and pastures 34% and permanent crops more than 6%. The shares of individual land uses vary significantly between EU Member States. Slovenia, which has only a good third of all utilized agricultural area in the structure of use, belongs, together with Ireland and Portugal, to the group of countries with the smallest share of arable land. The largest share of arable land in the structure of agricultural land use is in the Scandinavian countries (Finland, Sweden, Denmark), where the share of arable land is 85% and more.

The differences are also reflected in the average area of individual land uses per agricultural holding. In 2016, the average agricultural holding in the EU–28 cultivated 14.8 ha of arable land, 2.7 ha of permanent crops and 13.5 ha of permanent grassland. In Slovenia, the average agricultural holding cultivates almost five times less arable land (3.2 ha of arable land / agricultural holding). This ranks Slovenia, together with Malta and Romania, among the countries with the lowest average area of arable land per agricultural holding among the EU–28 countries. The largest area of arable land per agricultural holding is in the Czech Republic, where they cultivate as much as 145.7 ha of arable land.


Methodology

Date of data source summarization