COUNTRIES
16With confirmed civil defence facts
CIVIL DEFENCE / SHELTERS AND SIRENS
CIVIL DEFENCE.
CIVIL DEFENCE.
SHELTERS AND SIRENS ACROSS EUROPE.
How European countries would protect people in a war: shelter space, sirens and phone alerts, and the latest steps each government has taken. See also stockpile advice and UK emergency alerts.
01 / THE MAP
CHECKED 2 NOV 2026Shelter space for the population
ROOM FOR MOST
5Shelter space for half or more
SWITZERLAND
100%A shelter place for every resident
UNITED KINGDOM
NONENo public shelter programme
- Shelter space for half the population or more
- Shelter space for some, or being built
- No national shelter figure
02 / COUNTRY BY COUNTRY
Country by country
| Country | Shelters | Warning system | Latest step | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denmark | Space for about 3.6 million people (about 61% of population), mostly in building shelters (sikringsrum) | Both: sirens plus S!REN cell broadcast (since 2023) | Nationwide inspection of concrete shelters started December 2025 after a 2025 state-municipal agreement to review them | Source ↗ |
| Finland | About 50,500 civil defence shelters with space for about 4.8 million people (population about 5.6m), mostly in cities | Sirens (mobile-alert channel not confirmed) | Interior Ministry reconfirmed the 50,500 shelters / 4.8 million places figure in March 2026 | Source ↗ |
| Lithuania | 6,513 shelters for about 1.6 million people (about 56% of population) | Both: 1,163 sirens (about 69% coverage) plus cell broadcast | Interior Ministry gave municipalities EUR 16 million to modernise shelters (Sept 2026); target 1,900 modernised shelters by 2030 | Source ↗ |
| Sweden | About 64,000 shelters with room for about 7 million people (about 3 million without a place) | Sirens (Hesa Fredrik); mobile-alert channel not confirmed | New law on shelters and protected spaces (Lag 2026:440) in force 1 June 2026; county boards take over shelter inspections from Jan 2027 | Source ↗ |
| Switzerland | About 9 million shelter places in about 370,000 private and public shelters: a place for every resident | Sirens plus Alertswiss app | New civil protection ordinance in 2026 to modernise larger public shelters | Source ↗ |
| Estonia | Few purpose-built shelters; new residential and public buildings over 1,200 m2 must include a shelter from 1 July 2026 | Both: sirens plus EE-ALARM mobile alerts | Riigikogu passed shelter law in Sept 2025; shelter duty for new buildings from 1 July 2026 | Source ↗ |
| Germany | 579 public shelters for about 480,000 people; pilot aims for 1 million places in a decade | Both: about 38,000 sirens plus Cell Broadcast, NINA and KATWARN apps | Cabinet approved the Civil Protection Pact on 20 May 2026: EUR 10bn by 2029, using car parks, tunnels and metro stations as shelters | Source ↗ |
| Latvia | Shelter construction mandatory for specified new buildings from 1 Jan 2027; earlier estimate of shelter for about half a million people | Sirens (mobile-alert channel not confirmed) | Saeima wrote shelters into the Civil Protection law (5 June 2025, in force 3 July 2025); shelter construction standard adopted 22 July 2025 | Source ↗ |
| Norway | About 20,000 shelters with space for about 2.5 million people; many municipalities have none | Both: Civil Defence sirens plus Nødvarsel cell broadcast | Parliament backed reinstating the duty to build shelters in new buildings (dropped in 1998); the regulation was still being drafted in March 2026 | Source ↗ |
| Poland | Older estimate: shelters for about 0.8% of population; target shelter for 50% of urban and 25% of rural residents | Sirens plus Alert RCB SMS; cell broadcast planned from 2027 | Civil Protection and Civil Defence Act: new multi-family and public buildings must include shelter space from 1 Jan 2026; about PLN 5bn for shelters 2025-26 | Source ↗ |
| Ukraine | 66,574 shelters of various types with capacity for about 16.5 million people (early 2026); ombudsman found 93% of inspected shelters had defects | Both: air-raid sirens plus the Air Alert phone app | Law from March 2026 requires shelters in all new residential and infrastructure projects; government approved shelter programme to 2034 | Source ↗ |
| Austria | No national shelter-coverage figure confirmed | Both: about 8,300 sirens plus AT-Alert cell broadcast | AT-Alert cell broadcast tested nationwide for the first time alongside the annual siren test in Oct 2024; tested again Oct 2026 | Source ↗ |
| Czechia | No national shelter-coverage figure confirmed | Sirens; cell broadcast due in the second half of 2026 | Interior Ministry finishing preparations to launch cell broadcast in H2 2026 | Source ↗ |
| France | No national public shelter coverage figure confirmed | Both: SAIP sirens plus FR-Alert cell broadcast (since 2022) | Government published 'Tous responsables' household preparedness guide on 20 Nov 2025 (online, not mailed) | Source ↗ |
| Netherlands | No national public shelter coverage figure confirmed | Both: sirens plus NL-Alert cell broadcast | Denk Vooruit 72-hour preparedness booklet sent to all households (Nov 2025); June 2026 government reversed plan to scrap sirens and will build a new network with Defence | Source ↗ |
| United Kingdom | No public shelter programme (media reporting; no official figure) | Cell broadcast (Emergency Alerts); no national siren network | Second national Emergency Alerts test on 7 Sept 2025; Resilience Action Plan published July 2025 | Source ↗ |
Where the figures come from
Civil Defence by Country: common questions
Does the UK have bomb shelters?
The UK has no public shelter programme. Cold War shelters were closed, and the government has published no figure for shelter space. It warns the public by Emergency Alerts to phones, not a national siren network.
Which country has the most bomb shelters?
Switzerland, which has a shelter place for every resident, about 9 million places. Finland has space for about 4.8 million of its 5.6 million people.
Does the UK have air raid sirens?
There is no national siren network. Some areas keep sirens for floods or industrial sites, and the national warning system is Emergency Alerts sent to mobile phones.
Which countries are building shelters now?
Poland requires shelters in new buildings from January 2026, Estonia from July 2026 and Latvia from 2027, Sweden’s new shelter law took effect in June 2026, and Germany approved a €10bn civil protection plan in May 2026.
Where do these figures come from?
Each row links to its government or news source. Shelter figures are each government’s own and use different definitions, so compare them with care.