Protected areas in Belgium

Protected areas covered 18.6% of the territory of Belgium in 2025. The value for 2025 is the highest since 2019.

Measure: Terrestrial and marine protected areas Unit: % of total territorial area Data: 2013 to 2025 Source: World Bank
Belgium, 2025 18.6% % of total territorial area
Change from 2024 +0.1percentage points 2024: 18.5%
European Union, 2025 21.1% Official aggregate
Median of European Union (27 countries), 2025 22.1% Middle value of 27 countries
Position in 2025 65th of 213 See the full ranking

Protected areas in Belgium over time

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Places
2 selected
Belgium European Union ×

% of total territorial area. Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators. Gaps mean no published value; points are not joined across missing years.

Terrestrial and marine protected areas (% of total territorial area), 2013 to 2025
Period BelgiumEuropean Union
2025 18.6% 21.1%
2024 18.5% 20.3%
2023 17.8% 20.1%
2022 17.8% 20.1%
2021 17.8% 20.0%
2020 17.6% 19.9%
2019 26.1% 19.7%
2018 24.6% 19.0%
2017 24.7% 18.3%
2016 24.6% 16.4%
2015 24.2% 15.3%
2014 24.2% 14.6%
2013 24.3% 14.6%

A dash means no value was published for that period.

In short

  • That is a change of +0.1 percentage points from 18.5% in 2024.
  • Since 2015, when it was 24.2%, the figure has changed by −5.6 percentage points.
  • Among the 213 countries with data for 2025, Belgium has the 65th highest value.
  • The figure for the European Union in 2025 was 21.1%.

Source and dates

Original producer
UNEP-WCMC and IUCN, World Database on Protected Areas
Distributed by
World Bank, World Development Indicators
Dataset or series code
ER.PTD.TOTL.ZS · dataset details · view at source
Observation period
2013 to 2025 for Belgium
Provider update
8 October 2026
Retrieved
9 November 2026
Published here
9 November 2026
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (per series metadata)
Attribution
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators, original data: UNEP-WCMC and IUCN, World Database on Protected Areas