Between 2018 and 2021, Settlements & Other Artificial Areas (e.g. buildings, industrial areas and roads) increased by 5.4% (14,500 hectares).
The increase in Settlements and Other Artificial Areas was mainly due to a rise of 14.8% (11,300 hectares) of Discontinuous Settlement Areas (e.g. residential, commercial and industrial areas outside of built-up urban areas).
The county with the biggest gain (59.3%) in Discontinuous Settlement Area from 2018 to 2021 was Kilkenny, where this ecosystem type expanded by 1,600 hectares.
From 2018 to 2021, the total national extent of Cropland decreased by 5.9% (27,900 hectares).
The decrease in Cropland was due almost entirely to a decrease in Annual Cropland, which was down by 5.7% (27,000 hectares).
Cork had the biggest fall in Annual Cropland between 2018 and 2021, where it decreased by 5.2% (3,500 hectares). By contrast, the extent of Sown Pastures & Other Grass in Cork rose by 2,300 hectares (0.5%) during the same period.
These accounts should be regarded with consideration of the following:
These accounts were produced using compiled ecosystem extent maps for 2018 and 2021. The extent maps were compiled by the CSO using a wide range of national and EU geospatial data. See the Background Notes of this release for a breakdown of these different data sources. Information on the geospatial workflow and methods used to produce the extent maps can be found in the methodology document in the methodology section of this release.
The extent figures included in these accounts are estimations based on the compiled ecosystem extent maps. The accuracy of these maps was assessed statistically and was determined to be ‘moderate’ to ‘substantial’ for 2018 and 2021, respectively (see Background Notes for information on validation and accuracy). Therefore, it is recommended that ecosystem extent changes and conversions between -500 and 500 hectares are interpreted with caution.
The total ecosystem accounting area (EAA) was predefined to be inclusive of the total national areas of 30 terrestrial and three transitional ecosystem types at level two of the EU ecosystem typology. However, the area corresponding to transitional ecosystems may be revised upwards with improved data. This is likely to take place ahead of the next iteration of this release. Information on how the EAA was delineated can be found in the methodology document in the methodology section of this release.
Three of the terrestrial ecosystem types (Agro-forestry, Mixed Farmland and Artificial Shorelines) which occur in Ireland were not accounted for due to a lack of source data and ongoing definitional refinements at Eurostat. For now, these ecosystems were mapped as follows:
Attempts will be made to identify new data sources for these ecosystems ahead of future iterations of these accounts.
Definitional revisions at Eurostat are ongoing with respect to the coastal ecosystems accounted for in this release. This includes the ecosystems (at level two of the EU ecosystem typology) comprising Marine Inlets & Transitional Waters and Coastal Beaches, Dunes & Wetlands. This may result in revisions to the extents of these ecosystem types, including the addition of new coastal ecosystem types.
In the following four ways, these accounts differ significantly from the previously published ecosystem extent accounts by the CSO:
The CSO would like to acknowledge the below organisations for their provision of expert feedback on the methodology and data used to compile these accounts:
Learn about our data and confidentiality safeguards, and the steps we take to produce statistics that can be trusted by all.
Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (16 October 2025) published Ecosystem Extent Accounts 2021 covering terrestrial and transitional ecosystems. This publication presents the areas of Ireland's ecosystems and tracks their change over 3 years (2018-2021).
Commenting on the release, Sam Belton, Statistician in the Ecosystem Accounts Division, said:
“These accounts explore what ecosystem types are found in Ireland, gives their extent, and tracks their change between 2000 and 2018. It includes the total extent of 11 terrestrial and transitional ecosystems at level one of the new EU ecosystem typology. For the first time, the CSO has further broken these down into 30 ecosystems at level two of the typology - the definitions for each of these ecosystems can be found in the Background Notes. Total extents for 2018 and 2021 are given alongside net changes at national, county and local authority level. In addition, conversions between ecosystem types are given at national level.
National Level
The largest ecosystem in Ireland in 2021 was Grassland (4,311,800 hectares), which occupied 60.9% of the terrestrial and transitional ecosystem area of Ireland. Of this, the vast majority (3,903,800 hectares) was Sown Pastures & Other Grass (i.e., agricultural grassland). Forest & Woodland, Inland Wetlands and Heathland & Shrub had the next largest extents in 2021, at 809,900 (11.4%), 470,800 (6.6%) and 454,400 (6.4%) hectares, respectively. These primarily corresponded to the level two ecosystem types Plantations (e.g. conifer forestry), Mires, Bogs & Fens, and Scrub & Heathland, which had extents of 604,400, 468,900 and 454,400 hectares, respectively.
Overall Change
Between 2018 and 2021, the largest conversions occurred between Cropland and Grassland. Altogether, 76,400 hectares of Cropland became Grassland, and 50,300 hectares of Grassland became Cropland. These were almost all conversions between Annual Cropland and Sown Pastures & Other Grass, which generally corresponded to transitions between temporary and permanent grassland.
The second largest conversions were between Grassland and Settlements & Other Artificial Areas. Grassland covering 18,500 hectares became Settlements & Other Artificial Areas, and 7,000 hectares of Settlements & Other Artificial Areas became Grassland. Conversions from Grassland mainly included Sown Pastures & Other Grass changing to Discontinuous Settlement Area. By contrast, changes to Grassland mainly included Urban Greenspace turning into Sown Pasture & Other Grass.
Net Changes
The ecosystem with the greatest net increase was Settlements & Other Artificial Areas, which expanded by 14,500 hectares (5.4%) to 281,000 hectares in 2021. This was mainly due to an additional 11,300 hectares of Discontinuous Settlement Area (e.g., residential, commercial and industrial areas outside of built-up urban areas) in 2021.
Grassland had the next largest net increase (7,500 hectares, 0.2%), which grew from 4,304,300 hectares in 2018 to 4,311,800 hectares in 2021. This was mainly due to a net increase of 10,400 hectares (0.3%) in Sown Pastures & Other Grass.
The extent of Forest & Woodland grew by 6,400 hectares (0.8%) to 809,900 hectares in 2021. This was mainly due to a net increase of 6,300 hectares (1.1%) in Plantations and 3,300 hectares (2.5%) in Broadleaved Deciduous Forest. Most (86.3%) of the expansion in Forest & Woodlands was due to conversions from Grassland.
The ecosystem with the greatest net decrease was Cropland, which fell in extent by 27,900 hectares (-5.9%). This corresponded almost entirely to Annual Cropland, which declined by 5.7%.
Sparsely Vegetated Ecosystems (e.g. areas of bare rock and exposed soil with minimal vegetation cover) had a net decrease of 900 hectares (-2.2%). This included a drop of 500 hectares (-1.7%) of Bare Rock and 400 hectares (-3.7%) of Sparsely Vegetated Areas. The 500-hectare reduction in Bare Rock was entirely due to conversions into Infrastructure & Industrial Areas (e.g. transport networks, airports, dumps and extraction sites).
County and Local Authority Level
The national level trends were also mirrored at county and local authority level.
Discontinuous Settlement Area
At county level, increases in Discontinuous Settlement Area were greatest in Kilkenny (1,600 hectares, 59.3%), Meath (1,300 hectares, 28.3%), Cork (1,000 hectares, 12.2%), Kildare (900 hectares, 22.0%), Limerick (600 hectares, 18.8%), Wicklow (600 hectares, 25.0%), and Dublin (500 hectares, 22.7%). When considering counties which could be further subdivided into different local authorities, Cork County Council had the largest increase in Discontinuous Settlement Area (1,100 hectares).
Forest & Woodland
The main expansions in Forest & Woodland were in Roscommon (1,100 hectares, 4.1%), Cavan (600 hectares, 2.9%), Westmeath (600 hectares, 3.5%), Leitrim (500 hectares, 1.7%), Longford (500 hectares, 4.3%), Offaly (500 hectares, 1.9%) and Sligo (500 hectares, 2.0%). Cork County Council and Galway County Council areas saw increases of 800 hectares (1.2%) and 500 hectares (1.0%) in Plantations (e.g. conifer forestry), respectively.
Annual Cropland
Relatively large decreases in Annual Cropland were observed across several counties. These mainly coincided with increases in Sown Pastures & Other Grass and were greatest in Cork (3,500 hectares, -5.2%), Offaly (2,600 hectares, -15.2%), Meath (2,400 hectares, -5.0%), Laois (2,000 hectares, -8.2%), Carlow (1,700 hectares, -6.8%) and Wexford (1,600 hectares, -2.2%). The decrease in Galway (1,300 hectares, -13.0%) was exclusively within the administrative area of Galway County Council.