Cyprus: 2nd lowest share of expenditure on environmental protection in EU

Cyprus had the second lowest share of expenditure on environmental protection in the EU in 2018 according to figures released by Eurostat on Thursday.

The EU’s statistical office said that in 2018, the EU’s 27 Member States spent almost €106 billion of government expenditure on environmental protection, representing 1.7% of total government expenditure. This is equivalent to 0.8% of GDP.

Overall, in the EU, general government expenditure on environmental protection as a percentage of GDP remained stable since the beginning of the time series in 2001.

Highest share of expenditure on environmental protection in the Netherlands, lowest in Finland

In 2018, the ratio of government environmental protection expenditure to GDP varied across EU Member States from 0.2% in Finland, 0.3% in both Cyprus and Lithuania, 0.4% in Denmark, Ireland, Hungary and Austria to over 1% in Malta (1.2%), Belgium and Greece (both 1.3%) and the Netherlands (1.4%).