Less than one quarter, around 18.6 per cent, of Cyprus’ total area are covered by forests, ranking the island below overall European levels, according to data published by Eurostat on Wednesday.

According to the report, forests covered 39 per cent of the EU’s total land area in 2023, with the highest rates recorded in Finland, 66.5 per cent and Sweden 62.4 per cent, comparing to the lowest forest cover rates recorded in Malta at 4.3 per cent and the Netherlands at 9.7 per cent.

A total of 156,703 square kilometres of land in the EU were affected by drought, with significant increases recorded in the areas affected by drought in the decade from 2014 to 2024.

The highest values occurred in 2022 and 2018, when 558,313 and 520,817 square kilometres were affected, respectively.

Although levels were lower in 2023 and 2024, Eurostat observes an overall upward trend in the 10-year moving average of areas affected by drought.