Urban green cover remains stable - but losses are becoming more widespread

The negative trend continues

Across all 516 cities, HUGSI detected approximately 43.5 million m² of green-space gains, while around 140.3 million m² were lost.

The result is a net reduction of approximately 96.8 million m² of urban green space - equivalent to around 13,600 football pitches.

The overall scale of the net decline is similar to last year, but the losses are considerably more widespread. Only 65 cities recorded a net increase in green space, compared with 119 in the previous release.

This underlines an important distinction: global green coverage may appear relatively stable, while significant changes are taking place locally within individual cities.

Europe remains the greenest region - but is not immune to decline

Europe remains the greenest region in the HUGSI study, with an average of 46.3% urban green space, compared with 24.4% in South and West Asia, the lowest regional average.

However, Europe's overall net loss increased substantially. The region recorded a net reduction of approximately 28.9 million m², compared with 13.3 million m² in the previous release.

Central East Asia recorded the largest regional net loss at approximately 35.4 million m², although this represents an improvement compared with the 55.4 million m² decline recorded in the previous release.

Among European capitals, Vilnius continues to stand out, with around 61% green coverage, of which approximately 47% is tree canopy. Zagreb, Ljubljana and Sarajevo are also among the European capitals with extensive urban green space.

The greener city is often the less dense city

The 2025 data also demonstrates a clear relationship between population density and access to urban green space.

Cities in the lowest population-density category have, on average, 52.8% green coverage. In the most densely populated category, the corresponding figure is only 29.7%.

The difference becomes even more pronounced when looking at change. The 103 cities in the highest-density group represent only 20% of the cities analysed, but together account for approximately 49.2 million m² - more than half of the total global net green-space decline.

Creating and protecting urban nature is therefore likely to be particularly important - and particularly challenging - in rapidly growing and densely populated cities.

Nature-positive cities are possible

Despite the global negative trend, 65 cities added more green space than they lost during the period analysed.

Among the largest measured net gains were Shanghai (+1.46 million m²), Karachi (+0.61 million m²), Caracas (+0.36 million m²) and Mumbai (+0.35 million m²).

Changes detected through satellite imagery can have many causes, including development, vegetation growth, seasonal conditions and land-use change. Individual yearly observations therefore need to be understood in their local context.

The results nevertheless show that urban green-space decline is not inevitable. Cities can protect, strengthen and expand the green infrastructure that makes urban environments healthier, cooler and more resilient.

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How was the study conducted?

Learn more about how the study was done and our methodology in the How it works section.