Formally Protected Nature in Sweden 31/12/2023
| Total | Land area and inland waters | Marine water | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instruments for protection | Area in hectares | Share | Area in hectares | Share | Area in hectares | Share | |
| Environmental Code, permanent formal protection | |||||||
| National parks | 743 228 | 1.4% | 697 242 | 1.5% | 45 986 | 0.6% | |
| Nature reserves | 5 207 661 | 9.8% | 4 477 513 | 9.9% | 730 147 | 8.9% | |
| Nature conservation areas | 148 947 | 0.3% | 122 784 | 0.3% | 26 163 | 0.3% | |
| Habitat protection areas in forest land | 34 278 | 0.1% | 34 275 | 0.1% | 3 | 0.0% | |
| Habitat protection areas, other | 620 | 0.0% | 371 | 0.0% | 249 | 0.0% | |
| National City Park | 2 614 | 0.0% | 1 821 | 0.0% | 794 | 0.0% | |
| Natura 2000 | 7 801 242 | 12.9% | 5 795 936 | 12.9% | 2 005 306 | 12.9% | |
| Total permanent protection, without overlap | 8 918 341 | 14.7% | 6 587 219 | 14.6% | 2 331 122 | 15.0% | |
| Land Code, time-limited formal protection | |||||||
| Nature conservation agreements | 171 932 | 0.3% | 171 882 | 0.4% | 50 | 0.0% | |
| Intra-governmental agreements | |||||||
| Swedish Fortifications Agency | 32 257 | 0.1% | 32 201 | 0.1% | 56 | 0.0% | |
| All instruments, without overlap | 9 101 102 | 15.0% | 6 769 877 | 15.0% | 2 331 224 | 15.0% | |
| Area Sweden, within territorial border | 53 192 468 | 45 001 883 | 8 190 585 | ||||
| Area Sweden, including exclusive economic zone (EEZ) | 60 557 224 | 45 001 883 | 15 555 341 | ||||
Definitions and explanations
Statistics Sweden produces yearly statistics on protected nature in collaboration with the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. A protected area refers to a geographically defined area that is permanently designated, regulated and administered to achieve specific aims and conservation goals. In Sweden, “protected area” is a collective term for protection under Chapter 7 of the Environmental Code and according to many of the nature conservation agreements under the Land Code.
Sweden’s national and official statistics on protected nature contain information on a selection of protected areas under Chapter 7 of the Environmental Code. Information is also presented on protected rivers, protected species, nature conservation agreements under the Land Code, Intra-governmental agreements, and forest land covered by land replacement.
Explanations concerning the table Formally protected nature 31/12/2023:
The data refers to areas that applied (that is, for which judgment was final) on 31 December 2023.
Nature reserves, Natura 2000 and nature conservation agreements include areas without restrictions, for example without regulations against forestry.
Areas in Sweden's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) are included in the Natura 2000 protection forms and in totals. Area for Sweden's entire economic zone has been used in calculating the share of Natura 2000 areas and totals in line 11 and 16. Share for other forms of protection is calculated based on area of Swedish territory, according to the Swedish Land Survey data “Topografi 10”, reference time January 2024.
Proportions and areas cannot be added up because some protection types overlap. Statistics adjusted for overlapping areas are marked with the text “without overlap”.
Nature conservation agreements include the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency’s and the Swedish Forest Agency’s nature conservation agreements, the White-Backed Woodpecker Action Plan, and “ekoparker”. Several agreements do not have end date information available. Among the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency’s agreements, 95 agreements, comprising 2 287 hectares, have a remaining duration of less than 15 years.
Information about the number of areas related to intra-governmental agreements with the Swedish Fortifications Agency was retrieved from “Överenskommelse om skydd av särskilt värdefulla naturskogsområden, Nv Reg. no. 310-167-10 No.” (available in Swedish).
More about the results
Source
SCB
Last updated
2024-05-23