Unproductive land remains stable in Switzerland

The amount of unproductive land in Switzerland has hardly changed in recent decades. Nationwide, it shrank by around 2% between 1985 and 2018, according to figures published by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) on Monday. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox Overall, a quarter of Switzerland's land is considered unproductive, i.e. it is not used for agriculture, forestry or settlement. Almost half of the unproductive land (45%) is rock and scree. The proportion of unproductive vegetation is around 28%, that of water bodies around 17%. Just under 10% of the unproductive areas are still covered by glaciers and firn snow. Glaciers in particular have lost terrain. They have lost a third of their area in 33 years. In the period from 1975 to 1985, glaciers covered around 153,000 hectares. Where the ice melted, mostly vegetation-free areas of scree and rock were left behind. Translated from German by DeepL/ts How we work This news story has been written and ...