Which has higher forest area, New Zealand or Norway?

Norway, at 122,034 sq. km against 99,503 sq. km in New Zealand as of 2023.

What is the difference in forest area between New Zealand and Norway?

22,531 sq. km, with Norway ahead.

How many years of comparable data are there for New Zealand and Norway?

34 years are reported by both, from 1990 to 2023.

Where does this data come from?

FAOSTAT, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), published as Forest area (sq. km). Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

New Zealand vs Norway: Forest area

New Zealand

99,503 sq. km

in 2023

Norway

122,034 sq. km

in 2023

New Zealand rank

53rd

Norway rank

50th

Forest area over time

New Zealand
Norway

How they compare

Norway currently reports 122,034 sq. km against 99,503 sq. km in New Zealand, a difference of 22,531 sq. km.

That makes Norway's figure about 1.2 times New Zealand's.

Across all 34 years both countries report, Norway has been ahead every year.

New Zealand ranks 53rd and Norway ranks 50th of 213 countries.

Norway has averaged higher in every one of the 4 decades both report.

Head to head by decade

Decade	New Zealand	Norway	Difference	Ahead
1990s	95,874 sq. km	121,234 sq. km	25,360 sq. km	Norway
2000s	98,494 sq. km	121,080 sq. km	22,587 sq. km	Norway
2010s	98,502 sq. km	121,371 sq. km	22,869 sq. km	Norway
2020s	99,208 sq. km	121,917 sq. km	22,709 sq. km	Norway

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher forest area, New Zealand or Norway?: Norway, at 122,034 sq. km against 99,503 sq. km in New Zealand as of 2023.
What is the difference in forest area between New Zealand and Norway?: 22,531 sq. km, with Norway ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for New Zealand and Norway?: 34 years are reported by both, from 1990 to 2023.
How do New Zealand and Norway rank globally for forest area?: New Zealand ranks 53rd and Norway ranks 50th of 213 countries.
Where does this data come from?: FAOSTAT, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), published as Forest area (sq. km). Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

New Zealand vs Norway: Forest area. Statizoid, drawing on FAOSTAT, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Retrieved 28 August 2026, from https://agriculture.statizoid.com/compare/forest-area-sq-km/new-zealand/norway/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://agriculture.statizoid.com/compare/forest-area-sq-km/new-zealand/norway/">New Zealand vs Norway: Forest area</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator: Forest area (sq. km)
Unit: sq. km
Source: FAOSTAT, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage: 261 places, 8,639 data points, 1990–2023
Last refreshed: 20 August 2026

Forest area is land under natural or planted stands of trees of at least 5 meters in situ, whether productive or not, and excludes tree stands in agricultural production systems (for example, in fruit plantations and agroforestry systems) and trees in urban parks and gardens.