The number of visits to and time spent in nature in the UK has dropped since the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, meaning around 1.1 million fewer people gained health benefits from spending time in nature in 2022 compared with two years earlier.

We estimate the value of those lost health benefits at approximately 390 million, based on how much it is thought the NHS would be willing to spent to achieve equivalent health benefits to those gained from time spent in nature.

This drop in health benefits was also equivalent to more than 22,000 years of life in perfect health lost across people in the UK.

These findings are based on our latest UK natural capital accounts 2023.