Conservation status of species of EU interest by biogeographic region (2010)

According to data from the European Environment Agency, 77% of habitat types and 60% of species protected under EU law have an unfavourable conservation status. Although species extinction in the EU is not occurring as rapidly as in other regions and continents, the percentage of species threatened with extinction is still a matter of concern. The state of biodiversity differs amongst biogeographic regions (i.e. regions displaying similarities in climate, altitude and geology, associated with specific habitats and species), as shown in figures 5 and 6. The proportion of habitats assessed as ‘unfavourable’ is over 70% in most terrestrial biogeographic regions. In the Atlantic and Pannonian regions, more than 50% of the habitats are assessed as ‘unfavourable – bad’; this percentage slightly exceeds the percentage in the other biogeographic regions.