KAZALCI OKOLJA

Key message
Neutral

In Slovenia, we cultivate slightly more than 8 acres (0.08 hectares) of arable land per capita, which more than third of the average in the European Union (EU), which is 22 acres of arable land per capita (data for year 2022). This area did not change significantly between 2000 and 2022, which indicates that Slovenia maintains its production potential.


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 2000–2022 and a comparison with the other EU member states is given for the selected years (2000, 2010, 2022). 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 2000–2022
Note:

SORS, Eurostat; calculations by AIS, 2024

Show data
Slovenia[ha] EU–27[ha]
2000 0.09 0.25
2001 0.09 0.25
2002 0.08 0.24
2003 0.09 0.24
2004 0.09 0.24
2005 0.09 0.23
2006 0.09 0.19
2007 0.09 0.23
2008 0.09 0.23
2009 0.09 0.17
2010 0.08 0.23
2011 0.08 0.23
2012 0.08 0.23
2013 0.08 0.23
2014 0.08 0.23
2015 0.08 0.23
2016 0.08 0.22
2017 0.08 0.22
2018 0.08 0.22
2019 0.08 0.22
2020 0.08 0.22
2021 0.08 0.22
2022 0.08 0.22
Figure KM27-2: Arable land per capita in Slovenia and the countries of the European Union in 2000, 2010 and 2022
Sources:

 Eurostat; calculations by AIS, 2024

Show data
2000[ha] 2010[ha] 2022[ha]
Malta 0.02 0.02 0.01
Netherlands 0.06 0.06 0.06
Belgium 0.08 0.08 0.07
Slovenia 0.09 0.08 0.08
Irland 0.28 0.10 0.09
Portugal 0.17 0.11 0.09
Luxembourg 0.16 0.12 0.10
Cyprus 0.13 0.10 0.10
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 0.22
Czech Republic 0.30 0.24 0.24
Slovakia 0.27 0.25 0.24
Sweden 0.29 0.28 0.24
Spain 0.33 0.27 0.25
France 0.30 0.29 0.25
Poland 0.37 0.29 0.30
Finland 0.42 0.42 0.40
Denemark 0.46 0.44 0.41
Hungary 0.44 0.43 0.43
Romania 0.42 0.45 0.43
Bulgaria 0.42 0.43 0.53
Estonia 0.60 0.48 0.53
Latvia 0.41 0.55 0.69
Lithuania 0.48 0.68 0.82
EU-27 0.25 0.23 0.22
Figure KM27-3: Arable land per agricultural holding in Slovenia and the countries of the European Union in 2000, 2010 and 2020
Sources:

Eurostat; calculations by AIS, 2024

Show data
2000[ha] 2010[ha] 2020[ha]
Malta 0 0.96 1.13
Slovenia 2.19 2.88 3.42
Romania 0 3.01 4.26
Cyprus 0 5.35 6.24
Greece 4.56 5.49 6.70
Portugal 5.61 5.80 6.03
Croatia 0 4.81 8.50
Poland 0 7.99 10.01
Italy 5.94 8.46 9.97
Bulgaria 0 12.46 42.87
Lithuania 0 11.51 18.60
Hungary 6.31 11.96 26.04
Austria 11.15 16.40 21.88
Irland 15.21 15.35 21.19
Netherlands 14.44 21.18 25.22
Spain 18.63 24.35 27.45
Latvia 7.32 19.86 26.77
Belgium 17.91 24.13 27.62
Sweden 33.99 38.16 45.26
Luxembourg 29.51 39.49 45.48
Finland 27.25 35.74 49.83
Germany 33.16 51.66 60.25
France 0 51.55 58.95
Estonia 0 49.42 90.22
Slovakia 28.12 70.27 104.77
Denemark 44.70 64.74 78.56
Czech Republic 0 167.83 142.09
EU–27 13.28 12.19 16.09
Figure KM27-4: The structure of agricultural land use on agricultural holdings in the EU–27 in 2020
Sources:

Eurostat; calculations by AIS, 2024

Show data
Arable land[%] Permanent crops[%] Permanent grassland[%] Kitchen gardens[%]
Irland 24.59 75.38 0.04 0
Portugal 26.15 51.73 21.71 0.41
Slovenia 35.80 57.84 5.85 0.52
Greece 38.35 40.05 21.44 0.16
Luxembourg 47.15 51.65 1.19 0.01
Spain 48.99 31.50 19.47 0.01
Austria 50.83 46.49 2.60 0.08
Croatia 58.98 35.84 5.04 0.11
Italy 57.47 25.02 17.38 0.11
Netherlands 55.46 42.49 2.05 0
Romania 67.15 29.17 2.69 0.98
Belgium 63.54 34.80 1.65 0
Latvia 67.72 31.80 0.38 0.10
France 62.27 33.95 3.77 0.01
Estonia 71.04 28.47 0.42 0.07
Germany 70.29 28.50 1.19 0.02
Slovakia 71.15 27.89 0.94 0.02
Czech Republic 70.91 28 1.03 0
Bulgaria 72.71 25.04 2.21 0.04
Lithuania 76.76 22.31 0.92 0
Poland 75.40 21.88 2.56 0.15
Cyprus 76.22 1.68 21.95 0.12
Malta 79.39 0 9.69 10.92
Hungary 81.84 14.88 3.21 0.06
Sweden 84.44 15.42 0.14 0
Denemark 90.25 8.66 1.09 0
Finland 98.86 0.98 0.16 0
EU–27 62.32 30.47 7.08 0.13

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 2022. 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 0.08 hectares per capita and practically did not change in the entire analyzed period 2000–2022.

In comparison with other Member States of the European Union, Slovenia belongs to the countries with the smallest share of arable land per capita (2022: Malta–0,01 hectares per capita, Netherlands–0,06 hectares per capita and Belgium–0,07 hectares per capita). In 2022, the Baltic States (Lithuania–0,82 hectare per capita, Latvia–0,72 hectare per capita and Estonia–0,53 hectares per capita) had the largest share of arable land per capita.

In 2022, compared to the year 2000, the area of arable land per capita in Lithuania and Latvia increased around 70%. In the same period, the largest decline was recorded in Ireland. In 2022, only 0,09 hectare of arable land per capita were cultivated in Ireland, which is more than two thirds less than in 2000, when they had 0,28 hectare per capita.

According to the 2020 Census of Agricultural Holdings, the structure of agricultural land use in the EU–27 on average comprises arable land 62%, meadows and pastures 30%, permanent crops 7% and kitchen gardens 0,1%. 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 84% and more.

The differences are also reflected in the average area of individual land category uses per agricultural holding. In 2020, the average agricultural holding in the EU–27 cultivated 16.1 hectares of arable land, 3.2 ha of permanent crops and 12,3 hectares of permanent grassland. In Slovenia, the average agricultural holding cultivates almost five times less arable land (3.4 hectares 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–27 countries. The largest area of arable land per agricultural holding is in the Czech Republic, where they cultivate as much as 142.1 hectares of arable land.


Methodology