Terrestrial protected areas in Sweden

Protected areas covered 15.8% of the land area of Sweden in 2025. The value for 2025 is the highest in the series, which starts in 2013.

Measure: Terrestrial protected areas Unit: % of land area Data: 2013 to 2025 Source: World Bank
Sweden, 2025 15.8% % of land area
Change from 2024 +0.3percentage points 2024: 15.5%
European Union, 2025 26.6% Official aggregate
Median of European Union (27 countries), 2025 24.6% Middle value of 27 countries
Position in 2025 119th of 213 See the full ranking

Terrestrial protected areas in Sweden over time

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Sweden European Union ×

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

Terrestrial protected areas (% of land area), 2013 to 2025
Period SwedenEuropean Union
2025 15.8% 26.6%
2024 15.5% 26.6%
2023 15.4% 26.3%
2022 15.4% 26.3%
2021 14.5% 26.1%
2020 14.5% 26.0%
2019 14.4% 26.0%
2018 14.9% 25.8%
2017 14.9% 25.9%
2016 14.5% 25.7%
2015 14.9% 25.2%
2014 14.8% 25.1%
2013 14.6% 25.2%

A dash means no value was published for that period.

In short

  • That is a change of +0.3 percentage points from 15.5% in 2024.
  • Since 2015, when it was 14.9%, the figure has changed by +0.9 percentage points.
  • Among the 213 countries with data for 2025, Sweden has the 119th highest value.
  • The figure for the European Union in 2025 was 26.6%.

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.LND.PTLD.ZS · dataset details · view at source
Observation period
2013 to 2025 for Sweden
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