§ Mr. Heddleasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish a comparison of the amount of agricultural land in percentage terms available per head of population in the United Kingdom and with each other European Economic Community country for each of the last 10 years; and what is the likely trend in loss of agricultural land per head of population over the next five years.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerInformation in index form for 1970 to 1978 is given in the table. It is not possible to forecast reliably trends in agricultural land per head of population over the next five years since losses of land will be dependent on factors such as economic growth, urban development and population changes, which it is not possible to predict accurately.
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INDICES SHOWING COMPARISONS OF AGRICULTURAL LAND PER HEAD IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND OTHER EEC COUNTRIES, 1970–78. United Kingdom West Germany France Italy Netherlands Belgium Luxembourg Ireland Denmark 1970 … … … 100 66 191 107 50 49 117 478 177 1971 … … … 100 65 188 97 48 48 115 477 175 1972 … … … 100 65 187 96 47 48 114 475 176 1973 … … … 100 65 186 95 47 48 113 474 178 1974 … … … 100 65 185 94 46 48 110 470 175 1975 … … … 100 65 184 94 46 47 111 460 175 1976 … … … 100 65 184 94 46 47 111 na 175 1977 … … … 100 65 184 94 45 47 113 na 175 1978 … … … 100 65 184 94 45 46 111 na na Note: For each year the amount of agricultural land per head in the other eight member States is expressed as a percentage of the figure for the United Kingdom. Source: SOEC statistics.