Eurostat: Romania has over one third of the EU's farming households

Over one third of the EU's farming households was recorded in 2013 in Romania, a country with 3.7 million farming households, that is 33.5pct of the total number in the EU, followed at a distance by Poland, with 1.4 million households or 13.2pct of the EU's total, Italy (one million households or 9.3pct) and Spain (almost one million or 8.9pct of the total number), show the data released on Thursday by the European Statistical Office (Eurostat). However, Romania is on the last but one place in the EU in terms of the average area of a farming household - 3.6 ha, slightly larger than two island countries: Malta - with 1.2 ha, and Cyprus - with 3.1 ha. In contrast, the farming households with the largest land areas are found in the Czech Republic, where the average area of a farming household in 2013 was 133 ha, Great Britain - 93.6 ha, Slovakia - 80.7 ha, Denmark - 67.5 ha, Luxembourg - 63 ha, France - 58.7 ha, and Germany - 58.6 ha. Eurostat informs that from 2003 to 2013, the number of farming households decreased in all EU member states except for Ireland, where these increased by 2.9pct. Within a decade, the number of households decreased to more than half in Slovakia - down by 67.1pct, and Bulgaria - a decrease of 61.8pct. Significant decreases were also seen in Italy (48.6pct), Estonia (47.9pct), Czech Republic (42.6pct), Lithuania (36.9pct), Hungary (36.5 pct), Latvia (35.4 pct) and Poland (34.2 pct). In Romania, the number of farming households decreased by 19.1pct from 2003 to 2013, whilst the average area of a farming household rose slightly from 3.1 ha to 3.6 ha. Moreover, in 2013 almost one third of the 10.8 million farms in the EU were run by people aged at least 65 years. Significantly higher shares are recorded especially in Portugal, where more than half (50.1pct) of those running farming households were in 2013 people aged at least 65 years and in Romania, where 41pct of those running farming households are people aged at least 65 years. In all EU countries, except for Poland and Austria, the share of the people running farming households aged under 35 is below 10pct.