Table 5.11 - Number of lakes in different European countries

Source: See table

Note: Country estimates may include some reservoirs

Country Surface area (km2)
0.01­0.1 0.1­1 1­10 10­100 >100
Number of lakes
Albania1 ­ ­ ­ >3 3
Austria1 some 100s ­ 19 7 2
Bulgaria1 53 175 288 14 0
Croatia1 ­ 1 3 0 0
Denmark1 354 256 74 6 0
England and Wales1 1665 50 2 0
Estonia1 750 209 41 1 3
Finland1 40 309 13 114 2283 279 47
France2 ­ 128 23 1
Georgia1 799 58 21 14 0
Germany3 ­ ­ ~100 ~20 2
Greece3 ­ ­ ­ >16 1
Hungary1,4 ­ ­ ­ 2 2
Iceland1 ~7000 1650 176 17 0
Ireland3 ­ ­ ~100 14 3
Italy5 ­ >168 >82 13 5
Latvia1 2164 740 122 20 0
Moldova1 >3300 48 30 6 0
The Netherlands1 ­ ­ ­ 47 3
Norway1 208 000 2000 450 7
Poland1 6050 2627 545 32 2
Russian Federation1 471 000 4626 412 51
Spain1 ­ ­ ­ 800
Sweden1 59 500 19 374 3990 358 22
Switzerland6 1300 10 15 5
Ukraine1 950 >4 2
former Yugoslavia6 >200 >10 15 4

Notes:

­ Missing information.

There are no or only a few lakes in Belgium, the Czech and Slovak republics, Luxembourg and Portugal. There is no information from Belarus, Romania and Lithuania.

Information obtained from:

  1. Questionnaires;
  2. Ministère de la Culture et de l'Environnement, 1978;
  3. Estimated by NERI;
  4. Biró, 1984;
  5. Gaggino et al, 1987;
  6. Dill, 1990.