Agricultural land is one of the most valuable natural resources which can be found in Latvia, since agricultural land has long time served as an important resource of economic activity and food production. Efficient use of this valuable resource depends not only on technologies and knowledge at disposal of farmers but also on regulations concerning the real estate market and taxation of the real estate. Recent changes of the real estate market regulation as concerns agricultural land are analysed in this paper to identify a possible influence on the use of agricultural land.

In the Western region of Ukraine, melioration is both of economic and social importance. The area of reclaimed lands constitutes 2.2 million ha or 24 % of the total agricultural lands in the region. Thus, melioration is of great importance for social-economic development of agro-industrial complex of the territory. Under conditions of the land reform in Ukraine, reclaimed lands were subjected to sharing and privatization causing a negative impact on efficiency of its utilization and technical conditions of the reclaimed land infrastructure. The aim of the research is to analyze conditions and suggest practical recommendations as to rise of productivity of reclaimed lands, peculiarities of land organization on privatized reclaimed areas, consolidation of shared lands within the boundaries of acting drainage systems. Timeliness of the research is connected with the issues of improvement of agricultural utilization and protection of drained lands of the region. The authors used economic-statistical, monographic and logistic methods in the research. The example of Lviv region was used to analyse conditions and problems of reclaimed lands of western regions of Ukraine under conditions of land relations’ transformation. It is mentioned that only 70 % of drained areas feature satisfactory water-air regime of soil for cultivation of agricultural crops. Prospects of an increase of their utilization efficiency are connected with reconstruction of the systems consolidating common technological melioration complexes, support of both-side regulation of soil humidity.

The aim of the research is to find out the causes of emergence of uninhabited dwelling houses, to state the criteria of their defining and identification, to work out possible solutions for improvement of the situation. The information from the Central Statistical Bureau, the data from the census of 2011 and the information about buildings or slums gathered by the local municipalities have been used in the research. As a result, the classification of uninhabited buildings and recommendations have been worked out.

Starting in 2016, the process of financial decentralization began in Ukraine, in which local governments of lower levels (rural, urban, city councils and united territorial communities) were entitled to independently establish on their territory the rates of many local taxes and fees credited to community budgets. In particular, tax legislation of Ukraine allows local governments to vary land tax rates in the range from 0.1 to 3% of the normative monetary valuation of land, as well as to differentiate tax rates depending on the type of intended use of land plots. The study created a database and analysed the spatial heterogeneity of land tax rates in more than 9.6 thousand communities. It is shown how the level of tax burden on land owners and land users, established by local self-government bodies, correlates with the economic development of the regions, as well as the normative monetary valuation of land, which is used in Ukraine as a tax base. The problems of taxation of real estate, which arise at the separate collection of land tax and tax for real property other than land, are considered, as well as suggestions on the necessity of introduction of tax zoning of territories in Ukraine, which will allow to further differentiate the rates of taxes on the property and provide more flexible and adaptive taxation of real estate.

The main purpose of data mining in private and public sector institutions is to process and analyse data with the aim of generating reliable information for decision-making. Decision-making performance is determined by the availability of the relevant data and the user’s ability to adapt that data for analytical purposes. The popularity of spatial statistical tools is on the rise owing to the complexity of the analysed factors, their variation over time and their correlations with the spatial structure. Popular models should be applied in demographic analyses for the needs of the spatial planning process. The availability of high-resolution data and accurate analytical tools enhances the value of spatial analyses, and the described models can be universally applied to support the decision-making process. The aim of this study was to present the applicability of selected spatial statistical models for analysing demographic data in the planning process and to identify the main advantages of these models.

The solution of preserving and restoring the soil fertility problem of agricultural lands in the process of economic activity is one of the main tasks in achieving global food security. Implementation of a complex of soil protection measures, as a rule, ensures the preservation and even growth of soil fertility. Therefore, the purpose of the article is to determine the economic efficiency of introducing soil protection measures in the use of agricultural land. For this purpose, the following tasks were set and solved: the analysis of the current state and trends of the land resources use in agriculture; to investigate the tendencies of carrying out measures on preservation of soil fertility and prevention of its degradation; to substantiate scientific and methodical estimation principles of economic efficiency of introduction of soil protection measures in the conditions of Ukraine. The following basic methods were used to solve the research objectives: monographic analysis – when developing scientific publications on environmentally friendly use of agricultural land; comparative and statistical analysis – in studying the dynamics of the structure of the land fund of Ukraine by main types of land and economic activity; system-structural analysis and grouping – in the study of the nature and content of ecological and economic consequences of soil degradation, as well as approaches to assessing the economic effectiveness of soil protection measures; economic analysis and calculation of relative indicators – to evaluate the economic efficiency of soil protection measures in the process of agricultural land use; abstract-logical method − for theoretical generalizations and conclusions formation, etc. Established that soil degradation is now one of the most important industrial and environmental issues, which is the main reason for the inability to achieve high rates of environmental and economic efficiency of land use in the future. It was also substantiated scientific and methodical approach to determining the economic efficiency of soil conservation measures in the current market conditions, which is based on the additional income that is received as a result of increase crop yields on protected lands. It is established that effective protection of soils from degradation is possible with the systematic implementation of soil protection measures complex, developed taking into account the specific natural and economic conditions of each region or agricultural enterprise. The priority directions of realization measures on land protection are given.

The article presents the analysis of the current situation of the forest area in Alytus and Vilnius Counties. Comparative, analytical as well as statistical and logical analysis methods were used for the investigation. The aim of the investigation is to carry out the analysis of the Alytus and Vilnius Counties forest area during the period between the years 2006 and 2018. The object of the investigation – Alytus and Vilnius Counties forest area. Tasks of the investigation: 1. To describe the status quo of forest in Alytus and Vilnius Counties. 2. To analyze and compare the forest area change in Alytus and Vilnius counties during the period between the years 2006 and 2018. The study found that forests prevailing in Alytus and Vilnius Counties are 50–59 years old. It was determined that pine trees prevail in Alytus County (71.05 percent) and in Vilnius County (16.38 percent) as well. The type of ownership prevailing in both Alytus and Vilnius counties is the forests of state significance managed by forest enterprises, national parks and state reserves. In Alytus County, during the period between the years 2006 and 2018, the forest area decreased by 4123.16 ha or 1.55 percent, in Vilnius County increased by 9593.16 ha or 2,35 percent.

The article presents the analysis of the change of land users in the Republic of Lithuania during the period between 1919 and 1940. The main factor affecting the relationship of land and its use was the political changes in the country, whereas economic and social aspects had less influence. During the period between 1919 and 1939 the land reform of independent Lithuania not only strengthened the country's agriculture, but also laid the foundations for the entire nation-state, it was one of the most significant achievements of independence, a real agrarian revolution, which intensified the land use. The main goal of the land reform was to alienate and distribute the state land and the land of large estates to peasants and to complete distribution of village land into individual farmsteads. Landlords were left inalienable 80 hectares (later 150 ha) of land area. The land from the State Land Fund was distributed to volunteers and new settlers (the landless) peasants up to 8-10 ha, to estate workers and rural craftsmen – up to 1.5-2 ha, as well as to poor peasants, state enterprises, farms and forestries, etc.

The media frequently refers to the concept of abandoned land. The reasons for its occurrence are discussed and the ways to diminish the problem are being searched for. Various sources of information were used for the research. They enabled the authors to identify the concept of abandoned lands. In addition, the situation of abandoned lands was analysed and causes of occurrence of such lands in one cadastral area of mid-Lithuania municipality were defined. According to the set of data, concerning abandoned lands (AŽ_DRLT), the data, provided in the mentioned data set and the data obtained during field testing were compared. The survey of the terrain was conducted in the early autumn of 2013 and repeated in the late spring of 2014. In order to find out why the land was abandoned, the surveyor of cadastral area was additionally interviewed. On the basis of the latest data of 2014, 123 spaces of abandoned lands, which occupy 59.74 ha, were found in Sujainai cadastral area. Having analysed the set of abandoned land data, it was identified that boundaries of 95 abandoned plots corresponded to the situation in the area, whereas boundaries of 28 areas should be corrected. Moreover, the abandoned areas that had not been marked were found while the land abandonment in the terrain was obvious. Although the amount of abandoned land is decreasing in both the area analysed and throughout Lithuania, the situation is not favourable. Having conducted the research, it was found that the main reasons for land abandonment in Sujainai cadastral area were as follows: poor fertility in non-productive lands (up to 32 points) and reclamation; no potential land consumers, purchasers or tenants of land areas of high productivity or it is complicated and expensive to pursue agricultural activity there.

Development and management of green area systems is important to both the environment and a person. It bears social, economic, and ecological significance. This system must comply with principles of sustainable spatial development. Therefore, well-developed systems of green areas must become the basic aim of all cities. Marijampolė, the seventh biggest city of Lithuania was selected as the research object. In the article the system of Marijampolė city green areas is analysed. Two surveys, which included questionnaires, were conducted, i.e. city inhabitants and territory-planning and management specialists were interviewed. It was identified that the system of Marijampolė green areas is not balanced and there are enough green areas only in part. However, the current parks, squares and other green spaces do not ensure full-fledged citizens’ life. Marijampolė lacks equipped, applied to various activities local green areas for different age groups of the community, the development and maintenance of which must primarily be the inhabitants’ concern.