In the European Union (EU), there were 10.8 million farms in 2013 working 174.6 million hectares of land, the utilised agricultural area.
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Between 2003 and 2013, slightly more than 4 million holdings disappeared in the EU, while the total area used for agriculture remained almost stable. This means increasing agricultural concentration, with the average area per holding growing by 38%, from 11.7 hectares in 2003 to 16.1 hectares in 2013.
Of the 10.8 million farms in the EU, almost 3.5 million (31.1%) were managed by persons aged 65 or over and a further 2.6 million (24.7%) by managers aged between 55 and 64, while those younger than 35 accounted for 6% of all farm managers.
Regarding agricultural land, France (15.9% of EU total) and Spain (13.4%) were the two Member States with the largest utilised agricultural area in 2013, followed by the United Kingdom (9.9%), Germany (9.6%), Poland (8.3%), Romania (7.5%) and Italy (6.9%).
The largest decrease of utilised agricultural area between 2003 and 2013 was registered in Cyprus (-30.1%), followed by Austria (-16.3%) and Slovakia (-11.0%), while the highest increase was recorded in Bulgaria (+60.1%), followed by Latvia (+26.1%), Greece (+22.4%) and Estonia (+20.3%).
Overall at EU level, while slightly more than a quarter (27.5%) of holdings disappeared between 2003 and 2013, the total utilised agriculture area remained stable. As a result, the average area per holding grew from 11.7 hectares in 2003 to 16.1 hectares in 2013.
This upward trend is noticeable in every EU Member State, except Cyprus. In 2013, the highest average utilised agricultural areas per holding were registered in the Czech Republic (with 133.0 hectares), the United Kingdom (93.6 ha), Slovakia (80.7 ha), Denmark (67.5 ha), Luxembourg (63.0 ha), France (58.7 ha) and Germany (58.6 ha).
In contrast, average areas below 10 hectares per holding were recorded in Malta (1.2 ha), Cyprus (3.1 ha), Romania (3.6 ha), Slovenia (6.7 ha), Greece (6.8 ha) and Hungary (9.5 ha). ■