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Environmental Indicators Ireland 2018

Land Use

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4.1 Ireland: Land use categories 1990-2016

GrasslandForest CroplandsWetlandsSettlementOther land
1990-199462.45636553279657.020147188469149.8034420453828618.11807731497681.46343188935041.13853602902433
1995-199962.0486820738298.300928249611859.6718014303573817.38038209015911.496293177636151.10191297840647
2000-200461.71529022966039.284750123561099.567789012300716.80641538652961.552358034770471.07339721317782
2005-200961.41585496664989.944164822207189.5078089912605616.43058374022691.643993378389271.05759410126629
000000
201061.270297068419910.18116654746739.4954428923914216.30402018347751.699347803456581.04972550478724
201161.216411826298310.28682226708829.4908090878306816.25141314023011.713742907654471.04080077089827
201261.187955108745510.3578727803459.4877118407826716.21494058279621.717458100985431.04972550478724
201361.148030362764610.44015872839.4849827949328916.17791190621651.732034948552081.01688125923395
201461.107151538067310.52626143936389.4821315386537616.13895439611521.736200710985131.00930037681473
201561.066107098369610.61007258801759.4792848625272316.09351525760891.740035640806741.01098455267001
201661.033693960527310.6804597891679.4765124965102316.05749512008251.744850135045711.00698849866716
  • Grassland accounted for between 61% and 63% of total land use in Ireland between 1990 and 2016. The area under forest increased from an annual average of 7% in 1990-1994 to 10.7% in 2016. Land under settlement was 1.7% in 2016.
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PrivatePublicCumulative afforested area
192200.404686266971530.40468626697153
192300.3880941300256980.792780396997228
192400.475911049958521.26869144695575
192500.8943566500070822.16304809696283
192601.235507173064083.39855527002691
192701.176827664353214.57538293438012
192801.390502013314185.9658849476943
192901.394953562250867.36083850994516
19300.06070294004572951.241982153335638.66352360332652
19310.06920135165213171.4427065417535110.1754314967322
19320.05058578337144131.475486129378211.7015034094818
19330.05179984217235590.89718945387588312.65049270553
19340.05179984217235591.4791283057809414.1814208534833
19350.06394043018150181.8850286315533916.1303899152182
19360.06110762631270112.2241557232755318.4156532648065
19370.07001072418607472.0392140992695420.5248780882621
19380.06677323405030252.1063920195868222.6980433418992
19390.06353574391453031.9631330810788924.7247121668926
19400.04289674429898221.6134841464154926.3810930576071
19410.03520770522652311.1780417231541227.5943424859877
19420.06474980271544490.9995750794196828.6586673681229
19430.1578276441188971.1023653912304529.9188604034722
19440.04815766576961211.0699904898727331.0370085591146
19450.0335889601586370.96558143299407132.0361789522673
19460.0534185872402420.69201351652131732.7816110560288
19470.06151231257967260.99390947168207833.8370328402906
19480.08296068472916371.7502681046518735.6702616296716
19490.09429190020436661.8202788288379437.5848323587139
19500.04249205803201074.1241577467068741.7514821634528
19510.1015762530098544.9472896137269646.8003480301896
19520.1622791930555844.1241577467068751.086784969952
19530.1525667226482674.1994293923635755.4387810849639
19540.1857509965399324.8566398899253460.4811719714292
19550.182513506404165.3013900973270565.9650755751604
19560.2557617207260076.1617531009085272.3825903967949
19570.1728010359968437.3102527265737279.8656441593654
19580.2533336031241788.3547479816272488.4737257441169
19590.3642176402743779.3288278262277298.166771210619
19600.5301390097327059.82861536593756108.525525586289
19610.4326096193925669.21146880880597118.169604014488
19620.528924950931798.86020112907469127.558730094494
19630.3682645029440939.24303433762975137.170028935068
19640.4188502863155348.77764513061249146.366524351996
19650.4265393253879938.3369417858805155.130005463265
19660.2505007992553776.95898504684244162.339491309362
19670.3508629934643178.13257522105987170.822929523887
19680.2869225632828157.86386353979078178.97371562696
19690.2967.86831508872746187.138030715688
19700.3437.743195.224030715688
19710.3838.003203.610030715688
19720.2469.135212.991030715688
19730.2469.451222.688030715688
19740.1789.15232.016030715688
19750.2178.961241.194030715688
19760.1998.36249.753030715688
19770.1568.178258.087030715688
19780.1798.074266.340030715688
19790.1347.588274.062030715688
19800.2685.922280.252030715688
19810.2756.099286.626030715688
19820.4986.016293.140030715688
19830.3275.698299.165030715688
19840.4735.192304.830030715688
19850.7644.625310.219030715688
19862.5594.689317.467030715688
19873.2155.395326.077030715688
19884.5957.112337.784030715688
19898.4976.629352.910030715688
19909.1476.67368.727030715688
199111.2927.855387.874030715688
19929.1347.565404.573030715688
19939.1716.827420.571030715688
199412.8376.622440.030030715688
199517.3436.367463.740030715688
199616.5554.426484.721030715688
199710.5830.851496.155030715688
199810.0022.926509.083030715688
199911.7770.891521.751030715688
200014.2311.464537.446030715688
200115.1470.317552.910030715688
200214.7350.319567.964030715688
20038.9690.128577.061030715688
20049.6170.122586.800030715688
200510.0320.064596.896030715688
20068.0120.025604.933030715688
20076.9470611.880030715688
20086.1820.067618.129030715688
20096.613110.0347624.776840715688
20108.310190.0039633.090930715688
20116.590720.0624639.744050715688
20126.591730.06029646.396070715688
20136.249010.00305652.648130715688
20146.156410658.804540715688
20156.284280.00853665.097350715688
20166.50671.597350715688
  • From 1922 to 1989, afforestation in Ireland was predominantly carried out by the public sector. Since then, private afforestation has dominated and from 1999, has accounted for over 90% of annual afforestation. In 2016, 100% of afforestation was carried out by the private sector.
  • Since 1922, 672,000 hectares of land have been afforested in Ireland.
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Total land cover
Finland73.1119813090263
Sweden68.4156654400117
Slovenia61.9662363455809
Lativa53.972338372467
Estonia49.3510513631238
Austria46.933947958998
Slovakia40.3326403326403
Spain36.9244186046512
EU 35.4992284121139
Portugal35.2567724779791
Bulgaria35.2155490051584
Lithuania34.7826086956522
Czech Republic34.544653957729
Luxemburg33.5135135135135
Germany32.7558016121167
Italy31.6073978377643
France31.0210714676989
Poland30.8111815034942
Greece30.2792862684251
Romania29.8278410572994
Belgium22.5708435167448
Hungary22.2397781503934
Cyprus18.6864315083315
Denmark14.4284704218713
United Kingdom12.9954945645435
Netherlands11.1407407407407
Ireland10.61
Malta0.9375
  • Forestry accounted for 10.6% of Ireland’s total land area in 2015. In contrast, 35.5% of the total land area in the EU in 2015 was under forest cover. Ireland ranked second lowest among EU Member States in terms of the proportion of land area under forest cover.
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4.2 Ireland: Planting period in public forestry 1920-2016

Hectares
<19204.938
1920-19290.325
1930-19391.935
1940-19492.858
1950-19596.489
1960-196913.699
1970-197942.544
1980-198967.725
1990-1999104.9580668
2000-200991.7187077
2010-201641.71702
  • Some 389,000 hectares of public forestry were planted since records began. Planting peaked in the decade 1990-1999 at 105,000 hectares.
  • A total of 10,000 hectares or 2.6% of public forest land is currently either unstocked or being restocked.
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4.3 Ireland: Organic agricultural land 1997-2016

  • The amount of organic agricultural land in Ireland has increased by 165% between 1997-1999 and 2016, when it accounted for 61,000 hectares or 1.3% of total agricultural land.
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Total agricultural land
Austria21.3
Sweden16.9
Estonia16.3
Latvia12.8
Italy11.7
Czech Republic11.3
Finland10
Slovakia9.6
Slovenia9.1
Spain7.9
Lithuania7.4
Portugal7.2
Germany6.5
Denmark6.3
Croatia5.7
Belgium5.2
France5
Greece5
Cyprus4.3
Bulgaria3.9
Poland3.8
Luxembourg3.2
United Kingdom2.9
Netherlands2.6
Hungary2.4
Romania1.8
Ireland1.3
Malta0.3
  • Land used for organic farming in Ireland accounted for 1.3% of total agricultural land in 2015 – the second lowest percentage of agricultural land under organic farming in the EU.  Austria, with 21.3%, had the highest proportion of agricultural land farmed organically in the EU in 2015.
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4.4 Ireland: Fertiliser sales 1980-2016

NitrogenPhosphorousPotashLime
1980275.05863.134150.349959.112
1981275.20261.482148.0471348.504
1982295.98563.391153.2161591.859
1983331.4466.203161.6412212.973
1984327.70966.028163.8111710.571
1985322.74758.083144.69878.416
1986371.65665.887165.495825.831
1987339.462.446155.962824.366
1988349.02564.665160.718885.559
1989379.31164.573158.432940.616
1990370.12162.641152.64806.9
1991358.30259.425147.824716.239
1992377.98561.451151.622580.911
1993408.81159.974145.32812.045
1994428.82662.41150.543612.821
1995416.91861.945152.1241124.08
1996379.46853.76132.1141100.076
1997431.99949.92124.317962.471
1998442.91650.513125.729694.501
1999407.59849.267122.695870.971
2000368.66743.697106.884832.689
2001363.51341.869105.597875.642
2002388.0843.832111.136622.499
2003362.52542.661110.645879.741
2004352.16538.645100.71547.263
2005345.15437.20992.88606.213
2006321.58832.41584.737579.219
2007308.9626.3569.584856.288
2008306.80620.23152.403595.926
2009337.57428.23572.624698.46
2010295.79528.10771.417972.577
2011296.53627.42181.179819.724
2012353.04436.98692.79521.355
2013331.78235.58493.8121172.029
2014330.95936.55194.242868.905
2015339.10437.07595.558893.73
2016369.08941.893108.694967.281
  • There are four main types of fertilisers used in Ireland: nitrogen, phosphorous, potash and lime.
  • Lime is the most commonly used fertiliser in the State. Sales fell from an annual average of 1.4 million tonnes in 1980-1984 to 967,000 tonnes in 2016.
  • The sale of nitrogen fertilisers varied between 296,000 tonnes in 2010 and an annual average of 416,000 tonnes in 1995-1999.
  • Phosphorous fertiliser sales fell from an annual average of 64,000 tonnes in 1980-1984 to 42,000 in 2016 and potash from 155,000 tonnes in 1980-1984 to 109,000 in 2016.
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Tonnes per 1,000 hectares agricultural land
Portugal31.501898895812
Greece47.0124238693126
Latvia47.748333084805
Romania49.1931203253714
Cyprus60.4134272386353
Austria63.2302733150219
Italy65.2943369185107
Spain65.6003677218498
Sweden74.6214447504144
Slovenia78.3514492753623
United Kingdom81.1674778620007
Slovakia81.6860449829355
Lithuania83.9433813892529
Bulgaria84.0791323904415
Finland85.8555210552659
Estonia88.3301479880106
Croatia89.962449083503
Hungary90.3571766039875
Ireland99.1916442347438
France101.926968218165
Czech Republic113.969760587947
Denmark115.773820886177
Poland119.495109948945
Germany123.605982904959
Netherlands140.678837608318
Belgo-Luxembourg Economic Union179.222205234409
  • Ireland had the eight highest concentration of fertiliser sales among EU Members States in 2015, at 99.2 tonnes per hectare of agricultural land. The Belgo-Luxembourg Economic Union had the highest level of sales, at 179.2 tonnes per hectare of agricultural land.
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4.5 Ireland: Cattle, sheep and pigs June 1980-2017

CattleSheepPigs
19806.90893.29151.0305
19816.74383.40221.0211
19826.72763.57091.0574
19836.80963.86791.0812
19846.80654.07421.0355
19856.81944.48661.004
19866.61635.01181.0029
19876.54475.59510.999
19886.46436.65631.0139
19896.64237.62461.0671
19906.81628.5391.1944
19916.9128.88821.3037
19926.95148.89791.3858
19936.98188.62671.5216
19946.99658.40421.5304
19957.0348.33151.5504
19967.31357.88821.6208
19977.53278.13151.6995
19987.648.3121.8186
19997.3877.92551.7869
20007.03747.5551.7221
20017.04977.33031.743
20026.99227.20961.7845
20036.99956.84891.7262
20047.01566.77721.6531
20056.99186.39221.6877
20066.97785.97321.6432
20076.89095.52161.5878
20086.90215.06141.462
20096.89074.7781.3852
20106.60664.74541.5163
20116.4934.831.549
20126.75415.171.5709
20136.90265.0071.5525
20146.92615.09681.5547
20156.96355.13871.5369
20167.22125.17921.5943
20177.36355.25291.5569
  • Cattle numbers in Ireland fluctuated between 6.5 million in 1988 and 7.6 million in 1998. The 2017 figure was 7.4 million.
  • Sheep numbers have fluctuated more widely. In 1980, there were 3.3 million sheep in Ireland. This number peaked in 1992 at 8.9 million. In 2017, there were 5.3 million sheep in the State.
  • Pig numbers have increased from 1 million in 1980, to a peak of 1.8 million in 1998. In 2016, there were 1.6 million pigs in the State.
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4.6 EU: Cattle and pigs December 2016

  • In December 2016, Ireland had the fourth highest number of cattle in the EU, with 7.4% of the total.  France had the highest proportion of cattle numbers, with 21.3% of the EU total.
  • Ireland had 1% of the total pig population in the EU in December 2016.  Spain had the highest proportion of pig numbers in the EU with 19.9% of the total.

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