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Environmental Indicators Ireland 2022

Land Use

In 2021, 2% of land was farmed organically

Online ISSN: 2009-9533

CSO statistical publication, 14 November 2022, 11am

COVID-19 Release Information

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 may have had an impact on some of the indicators (such as emissions to air, transport and energy) in this publication.

6.1 Ireland: Land use categories 1990-2020

Grassland accounted for 59% of total land use in Ireland in 2020, down from 62% in 1990. The area under forest increased from 7% in 1990 to 11% in 2020. Land under settlement was 2% in 2020.

6.1 Ireland: Land use categories 1990-2020

6.2 EU: Forest cover 2020

Forestry accounted for 11% of Ireland’s total land area in 2020, the third lowest among EU Member States after Malta and the Netherlands. Finland had the highest proportion of land area under forest at 66% in 2020. The EU27 average was 39%.

Country	Total land area
Finland	66.2182966865734
Sweden	62.5357602631955
Slovenia	61.0580575149213
Estonia	53.7850714663843
Latvia	52.8100517139937
Austria	46.4859677150147
Slovakia	39.2760273274192
EU27	38.600547816093
Spain	37.2559588527228
Portugal	37.1704656408875
Bulgaria	35.0733359760712
Croatia	34.2635261688518
Luxembourg	34.1811175337187
Czechia	33.9426405142575
Lithuania	33.7142331964953
Germany	31.9350950445928
Italy	31.6682722388297
France	31.4227953229155
Poland	30.4012464414865
Greece	29.6277734748736
Romania	29.0650508812993
Belgium	22.4776625578817
Hungary	22.0725282759214
Cyprus	18.6469253215173
Denmark	14.6404193360513
Ireland	11.1801792785967
Netherlands	9.88549414093852
Malta	1.45569620253165

6.3 Ireland: Organic agricultural land 1997-2021

The area of agricultural land farmed organically in Ireland increased by 404% between 1997 and 2021, when it accounted for 94,200 hectares or 2.0% of the total agricultural land.

6.2 Ireland: Organic agricultural land 1997-2021

6.4 EU: Organic agricultural land 2020

Land used for organic farming in Ireland accounted for 1.5% of total agricultural land in 2020 – the second lowest percentage among the 27 EU Member States. Austria, with 24.9%, had the highest proportion of agricultural land farmed organically in the EU27 in 2020, and Malta the lowest at 0.6%.

Country	Total agricultural land
Austria	24.9365394276997
Estonia	23.0593936355756
Sweden	20.159115372678
Italy	17.3186465865877
Latvia	15.505506678312
Czechia	15.4770053874156
Finland	14.0079641039497
Slovakia	11.7214360462976
Denmark	11.4531904983698
Greece	11.0078900011942
Spain	10.4629527103178
Slovenia	10.2525938735178
Germany	9.52695816301967
France	9.07544963973665
Portugal	8.7747385070807
Lithuania	8.22965487112276
Belgium	7.57489104671611
Croatia	6.91255091649695
Hungary	6.47328906565418
Cyprus	5.41296990761913
Luxembourg	4.66880341880342
Netherlands	3.87573948483684
Romania	3.59139389622277
Poland	3.53428587488992
Bulgaria	2.49955922888706
Ireland	1.50552984705965
Malta	0.615808823529412

6.5 Ireland: Fertiliser sales 1981-2020

Total fertiliser sales in Ireland fell from 1.8 million tonnes in 1981 to 0.9 million tonnes in 2012. In 2020 it was 1.4 million tonnes.

Lime is the most commonly used fertiliser in the State. Sales fell from 1.3 million tonnes in 1981 to 0.9 million tonnes in 2020.

The sale of nitrogen fertilisers in Ireland increased by 40% between 1981 and 2020.

Potassium fertiliser sales fell from by 20% between 1981 and 2020.

Phosphorous fertiliser sales fell by 29% over the same period.

6.3 Ireland: Fertiliser sales 1981-2020

Year	Lime	Nitrogen	Potassium	Phosphorous
1981	1348.504	275.094	149.7735	62.721
1982	1591.859	280.39775	149.33925	61.95925
1983	2212.973	304.84875	155.32225	64.094
1984	1124.08	330.50725	162.1835	66.15925
1985	878.416	326.4685	159.03075	64.04175
1986	825.831	334.97425	149.89125	60.034
1987	824.366	363.592	163.11175	65.02675
1988	885.559	341.80625	157.151	63.00075
1989	940.616	356.5965	160.1465	64.642
1990	806.9	377.0135	156.984	64.09
1991	716.239	367.16625	151.436	61.837
1992	580.911	363.22275	148.7735	59.9315
1993	812.045	385.6915	150.0465	61.08175
1994	612.821	413.81475	146.62575	60.583
1995	1124.08	425.849	150.93825	62.29375
1996	1100.076	407.5555	147.1215	59.89875
1997	962.471	392.60075	130.16475	52.8
1998	694.501	434.72825	124.67	50.06825
1999	870.971	434.0865	124.9705	50.2015
2000	832.689	397.86525	118.74225	47.6245
2001	875.642	367.3785	106.56225	42.49
2002	622.499	369.65475	106.98175	42.35975
2003	879.741	381.69125	111.01325	43.53925
2004	547.263	359.935	108.16125	41.657
2005	606.213	350.41225	98.7525	38.286
2006	579.219	339.2625	90.84425	36.0105
2007	856.288	318.431	80.94875	30.89875
2008	595.926	308.4215	65.28875	24.82025
2009	698.46	314.498	57.45825	22.232
2010	972.577	327.12925	72.32225	28.203
2011	819.724	295.98025	73.8575	27.9355
2012	521.355	310.663	84.08175	29.81225
2013	1172.029	347.7285	93.0455	36.6355
2014	868.905	331.57625	93.9195	35.82575
2015	893.73	332.99525	94.571	36.682
2016	967.276	346.60025	98.842	38.2795
2017	737.116	378.9405	111.58725	43.0165
2018	1028.738	398.21225	118.77225	45.45825
2019	762.865	370.40275	115.22	43.06875
2020	887.32	384.43025	119.2425	44.71125

6.6 EU: Fertiliser sales 2020

Ireland had the tenth highest rate of fertiliser sales among the 27 EU Member States in 2020 at 85 tonnes per 1,000 hectares of agricultural land. The Netherlands had the highest rate of sales in 2020 at 122 tonnes per 1,000 hectares of agricultural land and Portugal had the lowest at 34 tonnes.

Country	Sales per 1,000 hectares agricultural land
Portugal	33.7396576770037
Romania	42.1872953503602
Austria	47.5006325887733
Greece	47.6144688456138
Estonia	48.3681632567806
Latvia	52.1834991372516
Spain	54.5817163958109
Italy	55.6670901214905
Malta	57.5367647058823
Slovenia	64.5586297760211
Finland	66.7864087560849
Croatia	72.7704938900204
Lithuania	73.2477064220184
Slovakia	73.4356676710787
Sweden	76.3524730559435
France	82.0371218875081
Poland	82.5933197176658
Ireland	85.448588049078
Bulgaria	85.7409469913609
Czechia	87.6857025837255
Germany	88.6407921636353
Cyprus	92.2985456873685
Denmark	95.3534096375423
Luxembourg	102.876984126984
Hungary	106.111001348647
Belgium	118.021255447664
Netherlands	122.372088743593

6.7 Ireland: Cattle, sheep and pigs December 1980-2021

Cattle numbers in December in Ireland during 1980 to 2021 fluctuated between 5.6 million in 1987 and 7.0 million in 1998. The 2021 figure was 6.6 million, slightly up on the 2020 figure of 6.5 million.

Sheep numbers have fluctuated more widely. In December 1980 there were 2.3 million sheep in Ireland. This number peaked in 1992 at 6.1 million. In December 2021 there were 4.0 million sheep in the State, up by 2.9% from 2020.

Pig numbers increased from 1.0 million in December 1981 to a peak of 1.8 million in 1998. In December 2021 there were 1.7 million pigs in the State, up 2.1% on 2020.

6.4 Ireland: Cattle, sheep and pigs December 1980-2021

Year	Cattle	Sheep	Pigs
1980	5.8255	2.3436	1.0308
1981	5.7632	2.4493	1.027
1982	5.7952	2.6085	1.0811
1983	5.8305	2.8132	1.0534
1984	5.8609	3.0818	1.0195
1985	5.813	3.304	0.9941
1986	5.6703	3.6718	0.98
1987	5.6327	4.3006	0.9603
1988	5.6987	4.9912	1.0145
1989	5.9691	5.7139	1.1101
1990	6.1005	5.8637	1.2491
1991	6.1474	5.9826	1.3455
1992	6.2364	6.1092	1.4227
1993	6.2639	5.9665	1.4872
1994	6.3439	5.7397	1.4983
1995	6.4506	5.5434	1.5423
1996	6.6609	5.3419	1.6645
1997	6.8816	5.5772	1.717
1998	6.9517	5.5591	1.8009
1999	6.5579	5.3186	1.7629
2000	6.3302	5.056	1.7315
2001	6.4081	4.807	1.7778
2002	6.3328	4.8285	1.7969
2003	6.2234	4.8501	1.731
2004	6.2115	4.5567	1.7543
2005	6.3902	4.257	1.6708
2006	6.3402	3.8263	1.62
2007	6.2476	3.5305	1.5005
2008	6.3039	3.4229	1.5107
2009	6.2317	3.1826	1.5019
2010	5.9177	3.122	1.5004
2011	5.9253	3.3213	1.5529
2012	6.2532	3.4303	1.4935
2013	6.3091	3.3241	1.4691
2014	6.2431	3.3249	1.5057
2015	6.4222	3.3248	1.4745
2016	6.6134	3.4382	1.5278
2017	6.6736	3.9818	1.6164
2018	6.5935	3.7985	1.5722
2019	6.5597	3.8094	1.6133
2020	6.5294	3.8772	1.6786
2021	6.6493	3.9912	1.7136

6.8 EU: Cattle, sheep and pigs December 2021

In December 2021 Ireland had the third highest number of cattle in the EU27, with 8.8% of the total. France had the highest proportion of cattle numbers, with 22.9% of the EU total.

Ireland had 6.1% of the total sheep population in the EU27 in December 2019, compared with Spain which had the highest proportion of sheep numbers at 24.8% of the total.

Ireland had 1.2% of the total pig population in the EU27 in December 2021. Spain had the highest proportion of pig numbers in the EU with 24.3% of the total.

6.5 EU: Cattle, sheep and pigs December 2021

6.9 Ireland: New dwelling completions 2011-2021

The number of new dwelling completions in Ireland increased by 194% from 6,994 units in 2011 to 20,560 units in 2021.

Over half of these units in 2021 were part of housing schemes, 23% were single houses and 25% were apartments.

6.6 Ireland: New dwelling completions 2011-2021

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Table 6.1 Ireland: Land use categories 1990-2020
% of total land area							'000 hectares
Year	Grassland	Wetlands (including peatlands)	Cropland	Forest	Settlement	Other land	Total
1990-1994 average	62%	19%	10%	7%	1%	0%	7,112
1995-1999 average	61%	18%	10%	9%	2%	0%	7,112
2000-2004 average	61%	18%	10%	9%	2%	0%	7,112
2005-2009 average	60%	17%	10%	10%	2%	0%	7,112
2010-2014 average	60%	17%	10%	10%	2%	0%	7,112

2015	60%	17%	10%	11%	2%	0%	7,112
2016	59%	17%	10%	11%	2%	0%	7,112
2017	59%	17%	10%	11%	2%	0%	7,112
2018	59%	17%	10%	11%	2%	0%	7,112
2019	59%	17%	10%	11%	2%	0%	7,112
2020	59%	17%	10%	11%	2%	0%	7,112
Source: Environmental Protection Agency

Table 6.2 Ireland: Organic agricultural land 1997-2021
'000 ha			%
Year	Organic agricultural land	Agricultural land area	Land area farmed organically
1997-1999 average	23	4,408	0.5%
2000-2004 average	29	4,401	0.7%
2005-2009 average	42	4,171	1.0%
2010-2014 average	53	4,569	1.2%

2015	58	4,596	1.3%
2016	61	4,569	1.3%
2017	69	4,569	1.5%
2018	67	4,643	1.4%
2019	76	4,651	1.6%
2020	73	4,664	1.6%
2021	94	4,678	2.0%
Source: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Table 6.3 Ireland: Fertiliser sales 1981-2020¹
	'000 tonnes	%	'000 tonnes	%	'000 tonnes	%	'000 tonnes	%	'000 tonnes
Year	Lime	Average annual change	Nitrogen	Average annual change	Potassium	Average annual change	Phosphorous	Average annual change	Total
1981-1984 average	1,569	-	298	-	154	-	64	-	2,085
1985-1989 average	871	-11.1%	345	3.9%	158	0.6%	63	-0.2%	1,437
1990-1994 average	706	-3.8%	381	2.1%	151	-0.9%	62	-0.6%	1,299
1995-1999 average	950	6.9%	419	2.0%	136	-2.0%	55	-2.1%	1,560
2000-2004 average	752	-4.2%	375	-2.1%	110	-3.7%	44	-4.2%	1,281
2005-2009 average	667	-2.2%	326	-2.6%	79	-5.7%	30	-6.0%	1,103
2010-2014 average	871	6.1%	323	-0.2%	83	1.2%	32	0.8%	1,309

2015	894	2.9%	333	0.4%	95	0.7%	37	2.4%	1,358
2016	967	8.2%	347	4.1%	99	4.5%	38	4.4%	1,451
2017	737	-23.8%	379	9.3%	112	12.9%	43	12.4%	1,271
2018	1,029	39.6%	398	5.1%	119	6.4%	45	5.7%	1,591
2019	763	-25.8%	370	-7.0%	115	-3.0%	43	-5.3%	1,292
2020	887	16.3%	384	3.8%	119	3.5%	45	3.8%	1,436
Source: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
¹Note: The average annual % change in 2015 is based on a comparison with 2014 data and not the average 2010-2014 data
- Not applicable

Table 6.4 Ireland: Cattle, sheep and pigs December 1980-2021¹
	'000	%	'000	%	'000	%
Year	Total Cattle	Average annual change	Total Sheep	Average annual change	Total Pigs	Average annual change
1980-1984 average	5,815	-	2,659	-	1,042	-
1985-1989 average	5,757	-0.2%	4,396	13.1%	1,012	-0.6%
1990-1994 average	6,218	1.6%	5,932	7.0%	1,401	7.7%
1995-1999 average	6,701	1.6%	5,468	-1.6%	1,698	4.2%
2000-2004 average	6,301	-1.2%	4,820	-2.4%	1,758	0.7%
2005-2009 average	6,303	0.0%	3,644	-4.9%	1,561	-2.2%
2010-2014 average	6,130	-0.5%	3,305	-1.9%	1,504	-0.7%

2015	6,422	2.9%	3,325	-0.0%	1,475	-2.1%
2016	6,613	3.0%	3,438	3.4%	1,528	3.6%
2017	6,674	0.9%	3,982	15.8%	1,616	5.8%
2018	6,594	-1.2%	3,799	-4.6%	1,572	-2.7%
2019	6,560	-0.5%	3,809	0.3%	1,613	2.6%
2020	6,529	-0.5%	3,877	1.8%	1,679	4.0%
2021	6,649	1.8%	3,991	2.9%	1,714	2.1%
Source: CSO
¹Note: The average annual % change in 2015 is based on a comparison with 2014 data and not the average 2010-2014 data
- Not applicable

Table 6.5 EU: Cattle, sheep and pigs December 2021¹
% of total
Country	Cattle	Sheep	Pigs
Malta	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Cyprus	0.1%	0.5%	0.3%
Luxembourg	0.2%	0.0%	0.1%
Estonia	0.3%	0.1%	0.2%
Latvia	0.5%	0.2%	0.2%
Croatia	0.6%	1.1%	0.7%
Slovakia	0.6%	0.5%	0.3%
Slovenia	0.6%	0.2%	0.2%
Greece	0.7%	13.5%	0.5%
Bulgaria	0.8%	2.1%	0.5%
Lithuania	0.8%	0.2%	0.4%
Finland	1.1%	0.2%	0.8%
Hungary	1.2%	1.7%	1.9%
Czechia	1.8%	0.3%	1.1%
Sweden	1.8%	0.6%	1.0%
Denmark	2.0%	0.2%	9.3%
Portugal	2.2%	3.6%	1.6%
Romania	2.4%	16.6%	2.6%
Austria	2.5%	0.6%	2.0%
Belgium	3.1%	0.2%	4.3%
Netherlands	4.9%	1.2%	7.7%
Italy	8.3%	11.2%	5.9%
Poland	8.4%	0.4%	7.2%
Spain	8.7%	24.8%	24.3%
Ireland	8.8%	6.1%	1.2%
Germany	14.6%	2.5%	16.8%
France	22.9%	11.4%	9.1%

EU27	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

Total ('000)	75,655	62,470	141,656
Source: Eurostat
¹ Note:Sheep data refer to 2019

Environmental Indicators Ireland 2022

Land Use

Land Use

In 2021, 2% of land was farmed organically

COVID-19 Release Information

6.1 Ireland: Land use categories 1990-2020

6.2 EU: Forest cover 2020

6.3 Ireland: Organic agricultural land 1997-2021

6.4 EU: Organic agricultural land 2020

6.5 Ireland: Fertiliser sales 1981-2020

6.6 EU: Fertiliser sales 2020

6.7 Ireland: Cattle, sheep and pigs December 1980-2021

6.8 EU: Cattle, sheep and pigs December 2021

6.9 Ireland: New dwelling completions 2011-2021

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Table 6.6 Ireland: New dwelling completions 2011-2021¹
% of total completions
Year	Scheme house	Single house	Apartment	Total	Annual % change
2011-2014 average	24%	65%	11%	5,500	-

2015	46%	45%	9%	7,219	30.8%
2016	51%	37%	12%	9,833	36.3%
2017	55%	30%	15%	14,302	45.4%
2018	61%	26%	13%	17,889	25.1%
2019	59%	24%	16%	21,134	18.1%
2020	57%	24%	19%	20,585	-2.6%
2021	52%	23%	25%	20,560	-0.1%
Source:CSO
¹Note: The average annual % change in 2015 is based on a comparison with 2014 data and not the average 2011-2014 data
- Not applicable