In the four-year average from 2016 to 2019, the settlement and transport area in Germany grew by an average of around 52 ha/day - as evidenced by current calculations for the indicator "increase in settlement and transport area". The daily increase thus decreased by around 4 hectares compared to the last indicator (56 ha/day in the years 2015 to 2018). In the German Sustainability Strategy, the Federal Government has set the goal of reducing the average daily increase to below 30 ha/day by 2030. By 2050, the aim is to achieve a Circular land management should be aimed for. Then no further net land should be taken up for settlement and transport purposes.

The settlement and traffic area does not correspond to the "sealed area", as unsealed open and green areas are also included. Settlement and traffic areas include, for example, all areas directly associated with buildings, such as house and front gardens or camping sites, as well as green spaces, playgrounds and cemeteries.

In 2019, a slight increase of 2 ha/day could be observed in the transport areas. This could be due to increased transport investments in the existing stock, smaller construction measures and the withdrawal or postponement of large new construction projects, as well as the reclassification of areas in the cadastres through remeasurement and subsequent recording. Traffic areas include road and path traffic areas, squares, railway traffic areas, air traffic areas and shipping traffic areas.

The settlement area has hardly changed in 2019: The increase in areas for residential construction, industry and commerce (excluding mining operations and quarrying land) and public facilities for the production or supply of goods and services amounted to 33 hectares per day (2018: 32 hectares per day) due to the strong construction activity in the inner and outer areas of municipalities and cities. Compared to the previous year, sports, leisure, recreation and cemetery areas increased unchanged by 10 hectares per day in 2019.

In Germany, 14.4 % of the land area is used for settlement and transport purposes.

Land use for settlement and transport purposes has the following structure: 14.4 % of Germany's total area, corresponding to 5.1 million hectares, is used for settlement and transport purposes. Of this, 9.3 % (3.3 million hectares) is used for settlement purposes (including mining, opencast mining, quarrying and quarrying) and 5.0 % (1.8 million hectares) for transport purposes.

In the city states, the share of settlement and transport area was highest in Berlin (70.6 %), Hamburg (58.9 %) and Bremen (56.4 %). The share of settlement and transport land in the other federal states ranged from 8.6 % in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania to 23.7 % in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The total area of Germany is 35.8 million hectares. The vegetation area makes up the highest proportion with 83.3 % (29.8 million hectares). This area consists mainly of agriculture with 50.7 % (18.1 million hectares) and forest areas with 29.8 % (10.7 million hectares). Only 2.3 % of the federal German area is covered by water bodies (0.8 million hectares) in contrast.

For comparison, the values for settlement and transport areas from 1996 to 2019:

 The data basis for evaluations of the settlement and transport area is the official area survey. As of the 2016 reporting year, this is based on the Official Real Estate Cadastre Information System (ALKIS). This impairs comparisons with previous years and makes it more difficult to calculate changes. The settlement and transport area determined after the conversion largely contains the same types of use as before. For more information on the area indicator, see https://www.destatis.de/DE/Methoden/Qualitaet/Qualitaetsberichte/Land-Forstwirtschaft-Fischerei/einfuehrung.html.

"Methodological notes: The indicator "increase in settlement and transport area" is calculated as a four-year moving average. This means that it is calculated from the figures of the current and the three previous reporting years. These four individual values are calculated by dividing the difference between the settlement and transport area of the year in question and the previous year (determined on 31 December in each case) by 365 (leap year: 366) days.

The data on settlement and transport areas are taken from the official area statistics. This was changed in the reporting year 2016. Until then, the settlement and transport area was determined according to the list of types of use in the Automated Real Estate Register (ALB). Since 2016, this has been done on the basis of the Official Real Estate Cadastre Information System (ALKIS). Due to the changeover, there were shifts between types of use in 2016. However, the settlement and transport area determined after the conversion largely contains the same types of use as before. In 2017 and 2018, redesignations of land were only partially included in the calculations for the indicator."

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Links to sources etc. (Optional):

https://www.destatis.de/DE/Presse/Pressemitteilungen/2021/04/PD21_209_412.html

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