Two of the most vulnerable countries in Europe for summer wildfires and rural fires, Croatia and Greece, are number one and two on the ranking for highest share of firefighters in their domestic employment sector, at 0.45% and 0.41%, respectively.
According to Eurostat, in 2024 EU countries combined fielded some 390,600 professional firefighters, representing 0.19% of the total employment in the Union. Compared with 2023, the number of firefighters increased by 28,200.
Greece was ahead of Czechia, which was third on the list with 0.34%.
Conversely, the lowest shares were posted in the Netherlands (0.07%), Denmark (0.08%) and Sweden (0.10%).
All total, EU governments spent 40.6 billion euros on fire-protection services in 2023, up from 37.4 billion euros in 2022.
The annual “scourge” of the southern Mediterranean again surfaced with a vengeance in Greece as well this season – along with other countries around the basin – fanned by very gusty winds, high temperatures, arid soil conditions and combustible flora (pines, fir).
