Forest area (hectares) by country
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.
What the numbers show
Forest area (hectares) is currently reported for 53 countries. The highest value is 153.82 million hectares in Democratic Republic of Congo; the lowest is 2,600 hectares in Comoros.
The median across all reporting countries is 4.51 million hectares, and the mean is 12.65 million hectares.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 59,163.
Over the past decade 9 countries rose and 38 fell. The largest increase was in Rwanda (up 26.3%), and the largest decrease in Comoros (down 64.9%).
Forest area: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Democratic Republic of Congo | 153.82 million hectares | 2011 | down 2.0% | flat |
| 2 | Sudan | 69.95 million hectares | 2011 | down 0.7% | falling |
| 3 | Angola | 58.36 million hectares | 2011 | down 2.1% | flat |
| 4 | Zambia | 49.30 million hectares | 2011 | down 3.3% | falling |
| 5 | Mozambique | 38.81 million hectares | 2011 | down 5.3% | falling |
| 6 | Tanzania | 33.02 million hectares | 2011 | down 10.9% | falling |
| 7 | Central African Republic | 22.57 million hectares | 2011 | down 1.3% | flat |
| 8 | Congo | 22.40 million hectares | 2011 | down 0.6% | flat |
| 9 | Gabon | 22.00 million hectares | 2011 | unchanged | flat |
| 10 | Cameroon | 19.70 million hectares | 2011 | down 10.0% | falling |
| 11 | Zimbabwe | 15.30 million hectares | 2011 | down 17.6% | falling |
| 12 | Madagascar | 12.50 million hectares | 2011 | down 4.4% | falling |
| 13 | Mali | 12.41 million hectares | 2011 | down 6.0% | falling |
| 14 | Ethiopia | 12.16 million hectares | 2011 | down 10.4% | falling |
| 15 | Chad | 11.45 million hectares | 2011 | down 6.5% | falling |
| 16 | Botswana | 11.23 million hectares | 2011 | down 9.5% | falling |
| 17 | Cote d'Ivoire | 10.40 million hectares | 2011 | up 0.6% | flat |
| 18 | South Africa | 9.24 million hectares | 2011 | unchanged | flat |
| 19 | Nigeria | 8.63 million hectares | 2011 | down 32.2% | falling |
| 20 | Senegal | 8.43 million hectares | 2011 | down 4.7% | falling |
| 21 | Namibia | 7.22 million hectares | 2011 | down 9.3% | falling |
| 22 | Somalia | 6.67 million hectares | 2011 | down 10.3% | falling |
| 23 | Guinea | 6.51 million hectares | 2011 | down 5.2% | falling |
| 24 | Burkina Faso | 5.59 million hectares | 2011 | down 9.7% | falling |
| 25 | Morocco | 5.14 million hectares | 2011 | up 2.2% | flat |
| 26 | Ghana | 4.82 million hectares | 2011 | down 19.3% | falling |
| 27 | Benin | 4.51 million hectares | 2011 | down 10.0% | falling |
| 28 | Liberia | 4.30 million hectares | 2011 | down 6.5% | falling |
| 29 | Kenya | 3.46 million hectares | 2011 | down 3.2% | falling |
| 30 | Malawi | 3.20 million hectares | 2011 | down 9.3% | falling |
| 31 | Uganda | 2.90 million hectares | 2011 | down 23.3% | falling |
| 32 | Sierra Leone | 2.71 million hectares | 2011 | down 6.8% | falling |
| 33 | Guinea-Bissau | 2.01 million hectares | 2011 | down 4.7% | falling |
| 34 | Equatorial Guinea | 1.61 million hectares | 2011 | down 6.8% | falling |
| 35 | Eritrea | 1.53 million hectares | 2011 | down 2.8% | falling |
| 36 | Algeria | 1.48 million hectares | 2011 | down 5.6% | falling |
| 37 | Niger | 1.19 million hectares | 2011 | down 9.4% | falling |
| 38 | Tunisia | 1.02 million hectares | 2011 | up 19.7% | rising |
| 39 | Eswatini | 567,400 hectares | 2011 | up 8.6% | rising |
| 40 | Gambia | 481,800 hectares | 2011 | up 4.1% | rising |
| 41 | Rwanda | 445,000 hectares | 2011 | up 26.3% | rising |
| 42 | Togo | 267,200 hectares | 2011 | down 42.7% | falling |
| 43 | Mauritania | 237,000 hectares | 2011 | down 22.8% | falling |
| 44 | Libya | 217,000 hectares | 2011 | unchanged | flat |
| 45 | Burundi | 170,200 hectares | 2011 | down 12.5% | falling |
| 46 | Cape Verde | 84,790 hectares | 2011 | up 2.9% | rising |
| 47 | Egypt | 70,600 hectares | 2011 | up 16.5% | rising |
| 48 | Lesotho | 44,200 hectares | 2011 | up 4.7% | rising |
| 49 | Seychelles | 40,700 hectares | 2011 | unchanged | flat |
| 50 | Mauritius | 35,020 hectares | 2011 | down 7.7% | falling |
| 51 | Sao Tome and Principe | 27,000 hectares | 2011 | unchanged | flat |
| 52 | Djibouti | 5,600 hectares | 2011 | unchanged | flat |
| 53 | Comoros | 2,600 hectares | 2011 | down 64.9% | falling |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- Africa 670.25 million hectares
- Sub-Saharan Africa 662.31 million hectares
- Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) 660.70 million hectares
- Sub-Saharan Africa excluding South Africa 653.07 million hectares
- Sub-Saharan Africa excluding South Africa and Nigeria 644.44 million hectares
- North Africa 7.94 million hectares
About this data
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.