Protected areas in Spain

Protected areas covered 22.1% of the territory of Spain in 2025. The value for 2025 is the highest in the series, which starts in 2013.

Measure: Terrestrial and marine protected areas Unit: % of total territorial area Data: 2013 to 2025 Source: World Bank
Spain, 2025 22.1% % of total territorial area
Change from 2024 +4.2percentage points 2024: 17.9%
European Union, 2025 21.1% Official aggregate
Median of European Union (27 countries), 2025 22.1% Middle value of 27 countries
Position in 2025 54th of 213 See the full ranking

Protected areas in Spain over time

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Places
2 selected
Spain 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 SpainEuropean Union
2025 22.1% 21.1%
2024 17.9% 20.3%
2023 17.9% 20.1%
2022 17.9% 20.1%
2021 17.9% 20.0%
2020 17.9% 19.9%
2019 17.9% 19.7%
2018 15.0% 19.0%
2017 14.9% 18.3%
2016 15.0% 16.4%
2015 14.1% 15.3%
2014 10.1% 14.6%
2013 11.1% 14.6%

A dash means no value was published for that period.

In short

  • That is a change of +4.2 percentage points from 17.9% in 2024.
  • Since 2015, when it was 14.1%, the figure has changed by +8.0 percentage points.
  • Among the 213 countries with data for 2025, Spain has the 54th 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 Spain
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