List of countries by forest area

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This is a list of countries and territories of the world according to the total area covered by forests, based on data published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). In 2010, the world had 3.92 billion hectares (ha) of tree cover, extending over 30% of its land area. In 2022, it lost 22.8 million ha of tree cover.[1][need quotation to verify]

In 2020, the world had a total forest area of 4.06 billion ha, which was 31 percent of the total land area. This area is equivalent to 0.52 ha per person[2] – although forests are not distributed equally among the world's people or geographically. The tropical domain has the largest proportion of the world's forests (45 percent), followed by the boreal, temperate and subtropical domains. More than half (54 percent) of the world's forests is in only five countries – the Russian Federation (20.1%), Brazil (12.2%), Canada (8.6%), the United States of America (7.6%) and China (5.4%).[2]

Many of the world's forests are being damaged and degraded or are disappearing altogether. Their capacity to provide tangible goods, such as fiber, food, and medicines, as well as essential ecological services, including habitat for biodiversity, carbon storage, and moderation of freshwater flows, is under greater threat than ever before.[3] According to World Resource Institute in Washington, between 2000 and 2020 the world lost 101 million hectares (Mha) of tree cover, mostly tropical and subtropical forests (92%).[3] The FAO is compiling a new global assessment due to be published in 2025.[4]

Planet, continents and regions[edit]

All areas are given in units of 1000 hectares. Source: Food and Agriculture Organization[5]

Region 1990 2000 2010 2020
World 4,236,433 4,158,050 4,106,317 4,058,931
Asia(including Russia) 1,394,343 1,396,679 1,426,096 1,437,999
South America 973,666 922,645 870,154 844,186
North America and Central America 755,279 752,349 754,190 752,710
Africa 742,801 710,049 676,015 636,639
Europe (excluding Russia) 185,369 192,999 198,846 202,149
Oceania 184,974 183,328 181,015 185,248

Countries and territories[edit]

Russia has the most forest

All areas are given in units of 1000 hectares. Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations[6]

Country 1990 2000 2010 2020
 Afghanistan 1,208 1,208 1,208 1,208
 Albania 789 769 782 789
 Algeria 1,667 1,579 1,918 1,949
 American Samoa 18 18 17 17
 Andorra 16 16 16 16
 Angola 79,263 77,709 72,158 66,607
 Antigua and Barbuda 10 9 9 8
 Argentina 35,204 33,378 30,214 28,573
 Armenia 335 333 331 328
 Australia 133,882 131,814 129,546 134,005
 Austria 3,776 3,838 3,863 3,899
 Azerbaijan 945 987 1,032 1,132
 Bahamas 510 510 510 510
 Bangladesh 1,920 1,920 1,888 1,883
 Barbados 6 6 6 6
 Belarus 7,780 8,273 8,630 8,768
 Belgium 677 667 690 689
 Belize 1,600 1,459 1,391 1,277
 Benin 4,835 4,135 3,635 3,135
 Bermuda 1 1 1 1
 Bhutan 2,507 2,606 2,705 2,725
 Bolivia 57,805 55,101 53,086 50,834
 Bosnia 2,210 2,112 2,103 2,188
 Botswana 18,804 17,621 16,438 15,255
 Brazil 588,898 551,089 511,581 496,620
 Brunei 413 397 380 380
 Bulgaria 3,327 3,375 3,737 3,893
 Burkina Faso 7,717 7,217 6,717 6,216
 Burundi 276 194 194 280
 Cambodia 11,005 10,781 10,589 8,068
 Cameroon 22,500 21,597 20,900 20,340
 Canada 348,273 347,802 347,322 346,928
 Cape Verde 15 40 43 46
 Cayman Islands 13 13 13 13
 Central African Republic 23,203 22,903 22,603 22,303
 Chad 6,730 6,353 5,530 4,313
 Chile 15,246 15,817 16,725 18,211
 China 157,141 177,001 200,610 219,978
 Colombia 64,958 62,736 60,808 59,142
 Comoros 46 42 37 33
 Republic of the Congo 22,315 22,195 22,075 21,946
 Costa Rica 2,907 2,857 2,871 3,035
 Croatia 1,850 1,885 1,920 1,939
 Cuba 2,058 2,435 2,932 3,242
 Cyprus 161 172 173 173
 Czech Republic 2,629 2,637 2,657 2,677
 Democratic Republic of the Congo 150,629 143,899 137,169 126,155
 Denmark 531 572 586 628
 Djibouti 6 6 6 6
 Dominica 50 48 48 48
 Dominican Republic 1,595 1,972 2,073 2,144
 East Timor 963 949 935 921
 Ecuador 14,632 13,731 13,028 12,498
 Egypt 44 59 66 45
 El Salvador 719 674 629 584
 Equatorial Guinea 2,699 2,616 2,532 2,448
 Eritrea 1,150 1,118 1,087 1,055
 Estonia 2,206 2,239 2,336 2,438
 Ethiopia 19,259 18,529 17,799 17,069
 Fiji 940 1,006 1,073 1,140
 Finland 21,875 22,446 22,242 22,409
 France 14,436 15,288 16,419 17,253
 Gabon 23,762 23,700 23,649 23,531
 Gambia 415 357 300 243
 Georgia 2,752 2,761 2,822 2,822
 Germany (see: Forest in Germany) 11,300 11,354 11,409 11,419
 Ghana 9,924 8,849 7,943 7,986
 Greece 3,299 3,600 3,902 3,902
 Grenada 18 18 18 18
 Guatemala 4,781 4,209 3,723 3,528
 Guinea 7,276 6,929 6,569 6,189
 Guinea-Bissau 2,233 2,149 2,064 1,980
 Guyana 18,602 18,564 18,520 18,415
 Haiti 383 381 378 347
 Honduras 6,988 6,778 6,575 6,359
 Hungary 1,814 1,921 2,046 2,053
 Iceland 17 30 45 51
 India 63,938 67,591 69,496 72,160
 Indonesia 118,545 101,280 99,659 92,133
 Iran 9,076 9,326 10,692 10,752
 Iraq 804 818 825 825
 Ireland 462 630 720 782
 Israel 132 153 154 140
 Italy 7,590 8,369 9,028 9,566
 Ivory Coast 7,851 5,094 3,966 2,837
 Jamaica 521 521 558 597
 Japan 24,950 24,876 24,966 24,935
 Jordan 98 98 98 98
 Kazakhstan 3,162 3,157 3,082 3,455
 Kenya 3,859 3,961 3,616 3,611
 Kiribati 1 1 1 1
 Kuwait 3 5 6 6
 Kyrgyzstan 1,136 1,181 1,230 1,315
 Laos 17,843 17,425 16,941 16,596
 Latvia 3,173 3,241 3,372 3,411
 Lebanon 140 138 137 143
 Lesotho 35 35 35 35
 Liberia 8,525 8,223 7,920 7,617
 Libya 217 217 217 217
 Liechtenstein 7 7 7 7
 Lithuania 1,945 2,020 2,170 2,201
 Luxembourg 86 87 89 89
 Madagascar 13,693 13,031 12,562 12,430
 Malawi 3,502 3,082 2,662 2,242
 Malaysia 20,619 19,691 18,948 19,114
 Maldives 1 1 1 1
 Mali 13,296 13,296 13,296 13,296
 Mauritania 476 422 367 313
 Mauritius 41 42 38 39
 Mexico 70,592 68,381 66,943 65,692
 Micronesia 64 64 64 64
 Moldova 325 344 375 387
 Monaco 0 0 0 0
 Mongolia 14,352 14,264 14,184 14,173
 Montenegro 626 626 827 827
 Morocco 5,485 5,507 5,675 5,742
 Mozambique 43,378 41,188 38,972 36,744
 Myanmar 39,218 34,868 31,441 28,544
 Namibia 8,769 8,059 7,349 6,639
   Nepal 5,672 5,781 5,962 5,962
 Netherlands 345 360 373 370
 New Caledonia 831 838 839 838
 New Zealand 9,372 9,850 9,848 9,893
 Nicaragua 6,399 5,399 4,188 3,408
 Niger 1,945 1,328 1,204 1,080
 Nigeria 26,526 24,893 23,260 21,627
 North Korea 6,551 6,476 6,387 6,287
 North Macedonia 912 958 960 1,001
 Norway 12,132 12,113 12,102 12,180
 Oman 3 3 3 3
 Pakistan 4,987 4,511 4,094 3,726
 Palau 38 40 41 41
 Panama 4,607 4,442 4,328 4,214
 Papua New Guinea 36,400 36,278 36,179 35,856
 Paraguay 25,546 22,992 19,570 16,102
 Peru 76,449 75,298 74,050 72,330
 Philippines 7,779 7,309 6,840 7,189
 Poland 8,882 9,059 9,329 9,483
 Portugal 3,399 3,281 3,252 3,312
 Puerto Rico 320 429 491 496
 Qatar 0 0 0 0
 Romania 6,371 6,366 6,515 6,929
 Russia 808,950 809,269 815,136 815,312
 Rwanda 317 287 265 276
 Saint Lucia 21 21 21 21
 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 28 29 29 29
 Samoa 176 171 166 162
 San Marino 1 1 1 1
 São Tomé and Príncipe 59 58 58 52
 Saudi Arabia 977 977 977 977
 Senegal 9,303 8,853 8,468 8,068
 Serbia 2,313 2,460 2,713 2,723
 Seychelles 34 34 34 34
 Sierra Leone 3,127 2,929 2,732 2,535
 Singapore 15 17 18 16
 Slovakia 1,902 1,901 1,918 1,926
 Slovenia 1,188 1,233 1,247 1,238
 Solomon Islands 2,545 2,538 2,530 2,523
 Somalia 8,283 7,515 6,748 5,980
 South Africa 18,142 17,778 17,414 17,050
 South Korea 6,912 6,455 6,242 6,030
 South Sudan 7,157 7,157 7,157 7,157
 Spain 13,905 17,094 18,545 18,572
 Sri Lanka 2,350 2,166 2,104 2,113
 Sudan 23,570 21,826 20,081 18,360
 Suriname 15,378 15,341 15,300 15,196
 Swaziland 461 473 485 498
 Sweden 28,063 28,163 28,073 27,980
  Switzerland 1,154 1,196 1,235 1,269
 Syria 372 432 492 522
 Tajikistan 408 410 410 424
 Tanzania 57,390 53,670 49,950 45,745
 Thailand 19,361 18,998 20,073 19,873
 Togo 1,362 1,268 1,239 1,209
 Tonga 9 9 9 9
 Trinidad and Tobago 242 237 232 228
 Tunisia 644 668 687 703
 Turkey (see: Forest in Turkey) 19,783 20,148 21,083 22,220
 Turkmenistan 4,127 4,127 4,127 4,127
 Tuvalu 1 1 1 1
 Uganda 3,575 3,163 2,750 2,338
 Ukraine 9,274 9,510 9,548 9,690
 United Arab Emirates 245 309 317 317
 United Kingdom 2,778 2,954 3,059 3,190
 United States 302,450 303,536 308,720 309,795
 United States Virgin Islands 25 20 18 20
 Uruguay 798 1,369 1,731 2,031
 Uzbekistan 2,549 2,961 3,350 3,690
 Vanuatu 442 442 442 442
 Venezuela 52,026 49,151 47,505 46,231
 Vietnam 9,376 11,784 13,388 14,643
 Yemen 549 549 549 549
 Zambia 47,412 47,054 46,696 44,814
 Zimbabwe 18,827 18,366 17,905 17,445

Share of national land which is forest[edit]

Share of each country's land covered by forest
This graph depicts trends in changes in global forest cover annually for various regions and sub-regions.

The percentage of each country's land which is forested was published by the Food and Agriculture Organization in 2020 and is expected to be updated in 2025 and every 5 years after that.[7] This data can be downloaded in bulk from Our World in Data.[8] Some countries have more recent statistics, for example the share of forest in Turkey is mentioned in that article.

See also[edit]

Sources[edit]

This article incorporates text from "Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 Key findings" (PDF). FAO. 2020. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. See c:File:Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 – Key findings.pdf. VRTS ticket # 2020073010003087.

 This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (license statement/permission). Text taken from The State of the World's Forests 2020. Forests, biodiversity and people – In brief​, FAO & UNEP, FAO & UNEP.


References[edit]

  1. ^ "Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020" (in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Retrieved 2023-10-30.
  2. ^ a b "Indicators Overview | Forest Extent". Global Forest Watch. Retrieved 2023-10-30.
  3. ^ a b "Global Forest Review". World Resources Institute. Retrieved 2023-10-30.
  4. ^ "Global Forest Resources Assessments | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations". www.fao.org. Retrieved 2024-01-26.
  5. ^ "Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 - Main Report" (PDF). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 2020. p. 16. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  6. ^ "Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 - Main Report" (PDF). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 2020. pp. 136–142. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  7. ^ "FRA platform". fra-data.fao.org. Retrieved 2024-02-11.
  8. ^ Ritchie, Hannah; Roser, Max (2024-01-15). "Forest area". Our World in Data.

External links[edit]