EU agriculture is facing a decreasing farming population. The overall number of farmers in the EU-27 has rapidly decreased in the last decade, falling from 14.5 million in 2005 to 10.7 million in 2013, i.e. a reduction of one fourth in less than a decade. All age groups of farmers were affected. It is not possible to know the number of farmers up to 40 years old as Eurostat data does not split the age group 35-44 years old into further subgroups. The number of young farmers (up to 44 years old) decreased from 3.3 million in 2005 to 2.3 million in 2013, i.e. a reduction of one third in less than a decade. However, the percentage of young farmers in the farming population remained relatively stable, at just above 20 %