site.btaExpenditure on Fire-Protection Services in EU Increases

In 2022, general government expenditure on fire-protection services in the 27 EU countries amounted to EUR 37.8 billion, marking a 7.8% increase from 2021 ( EUR 35.1 billion), Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Commission, said on Friday.

In 2023, there were 362,400 professional firefighters in the EU, representing 0.18% of total EU employment. Compared with 2022, the number of firefighters increased by 3,200. Among the 21 EU countries with available data, the highest shares of firefighters in total employment were registered in Croatia (0.49%), followed by Estonia and Greece (both 0.39%). The lowest shares were registered in the Netherlands (0.05%), Finland, Slovenia and Sweden (both 0.13%).

Eurostat data shows that firefighters in Bulgaria are some 6,500, representing 0.22% of the total employment in this country. However, the statistical office of the European Commission says that its data about the number of firefighters in Bulgaria has low reliability. There is also low reliability data about the number of firefighters in six other EU countries - Croatia, Cyprus, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia. 

In 2022, Denmark reported the lowest share of expenditure on fire-protection services, at 0.1% of general government total expenditure, followed by Malta, Slovenia, Portugal and Austria with 0.3% each. In contrast, Romania had the highest share of expenditure on fire-protection services at 0.7% of total expenditure, followed by Greece, Germany, Lithuania, Estonia and Czechia with 0.6% each. 

In Bulgaria the share of expenditure on fire-protection services stood at 0.5% of its general government total expenditure (EUR 193.4 million).