European Commission
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Summary

Natura 2000 marine protected area coverage
This indicator provides the percentage of marine waters, by Member State and at EU 27 level, covered by Natura 2000 sites designated under the EU Habitats and Birds Directives. Values are calculated and provided each year by the European Environment Agency based on data reported by the Member States.
  • Source last updated on: 17-12-2025
  • Outdated Checked weekly
  • Showing stored values (13-07-2026)
Links

Documentation

Indicator: Natura 2000 marine protected area coverage
Indicator name

Tag: None
Indicator abbreviated name

Definition: Percentage of marine waters by Member State and at EU 27 level, covered by Natura 2000 sites designated under the EU Habitats and Birds Directives.
Definition describing what the indicator measures

Unit: % of areas protected under Natura 2000 on marine waters
Measurement unit of the indicator values

Spatial coverage: EU (current composition, only continental areas and Macaronesia)
Geographic area covered by the indicator

Temporal coverage: 2012-2023
Time coverage of the indicator from first to most recent available year

Update frequency: Every year
Frequency at which indicator is updated

DPSIR: Response
DPSIR classification framework: Driver, Pressure, State, Impact, or Response

Method: 1) Calculation of surface from the Natura 2000 data eliminating double counting of areas where Natura 2000 sites are overlapping; 2) topological controls and adjustments, other data quality controls; 3) Marine areas are defined in "EEA marine assessment areas - version 3.0, Oct. 2022 " dataset. References about these sources are available in the specific dataset's section of this catalogue.
Description of the main methodological steps used to calculate the indicator

Reference: Marine protected areas in Europe's seas - European Environment Agency (https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/indicators/marine-protected-areas-in-europes-seas); Methodology for indicator calculation (https://cdr.eionet.europa.eu/help/natura2000/), accessed 19 December 2025.
Reference sources describing the indicator and method to calculate it (e.g. peer-reviewed articles, scientific/technical reports, webpages, other)

Producer: European Environment Agency
Institution which produces the calculation of the indicator values

Provider: European Environment Agency
Institution supplying the indicator values, even if not the original producer of indicator values

Open source: False
Indicates whether calculation code is openly available

Spatial scope (Member States): True
Whether the indicator is available at Member States level

Spatial scope (EU27): True
Whether the indicator is available at EU27 aggregated level

Spatial scope (global): False
Whether the indicator is available at global level

Accuracy uncertainties: None
Comment on data accuracy, limitations, and uncertainty

Comments: None
Additional remarks

Storage: None
Webpage link containing the code and/or detailed description of the workflow to calculate the indicator

Copyright/Licence of use: See EEA Copyright/Licence Policy: https://www.eea.europa.eu/legal/. The data are provided by EEA based on data reported by the countries.
Copyright or licensing information related to the indicator

Datasets

Values

Indicator values per country
Country Value
Belgium 38.0
Bulgaria 8.1
Cyprus 8.7
Germany 45.4
Denmark 23.4
Estonia 18.7
Greece 20.0
Spain 14.5
Finland 10.3
France 35.7
Croatia 9.8
Ireland 2.3
Italy 4.4
Lithuania 22.9
Latvia 15.6
Malta 5.5
Netherlands 26.5
Poland 22.0
Portugal 2.5
Romania 21.5
Sweden 13.1

Graphs

Source: European Environment Agency

EU 27

10.5%