Government expenditure on forest fire protection services in
the European Union, in 2020, represented 0.5% of total expenditure, or 32.9
billion euros. This is an increase of 6.4% compared to 2019, when expenses were
around €30.9 billion. Looking at member states, Portugal is among the countries
in the bloc that spent the least on fire protection that year.
According to data released by Eurostat, the Portuguese
percentage is in line with that of Belgium, Malta, Austria, Switzerland and
Slovenia. Denmark and Iceland were the Member States that spent the least,
around 0.1% and 0.2%, respectively. Romania was the country in the bloc that
invested the most in fire protection in 2020 at around 0.8%.