The total organic area in the European Union (EU) was 12.6 million hectares in 2017, corresponding to 7 % of the total utilised agricultural area. This represents an increase of 25 % between 2012 and 2017.
Among the EU Member States, the countries with the largest shares of organic area were Austria (23.4 % of total utilised agricultural area), Estonia (19.6 %) and Sweden (19.2 %), followed by Italy (14.9 %), Czechia (14.1 %), Latvia (13.9 %) and Finland (11.4 %).
In the remaining EU countries, the share of organic area was below 10 %, with the lowest proportions observed in Malta (0.4 %), Ireland (1.7 %), Romania (1.9 %), Bulgaria (2.7 %) and the United Kingdom (2.9 %).
Note
The total organic area is the sum of the "area under conversion" and the "certified area". Before an area can be certified as "organic", it must undergo a conversion process, which may take 2-3 years depending on the crop.
For more information
More statistics on organic area, including the area under conversion, organic production and the number of fully organic farms can be found in the Statistics Explained article Organic farming statistics.
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