Forest area in Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa: Forest area was 662.31 million hectares in 2011. βΌ Falling
Forest area in Sub-Saharan Africa, 1990β2011
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site. Measured in hectares.
Analysis
Sub-Saharan Africa recorded 662.31 million hectares for forest area in 2011. That is the lowest value across all 22 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 0.5% on the previous year and down 4.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, forest area in Sub-Saharan Africa peaked at 740.80 million hectares in 1990 and was at its lowest, 662.31 million hectares, in 2011.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 22 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 722.46 million hectares | 704.11 million hectares | 740.80 million hectares | 10 |
| 2000s | 684.56 million hectares | 669.12 million hectares | 700.04 million hectares | 10 |
| 2010s | 664.00 million hectares | 662.31 million hectares | 665.69 million hectares | 2 |
Countries ranked near Sub-Saharan Africa
- 1 Congo, Democratic Republic of the 153.82 million hectares compare
- 2 Sudan 69.95 million hectares compare
- 3 Angola 58.36 million hectares compare
- 4 Zambia 49.30 million hectares compare
- 5 Mozambique, Republic of 38.81 million hectares compare
More agriculture & rural data for Sub-Saharan Africa
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$), annual 10.7 % change on previous year (2025)
- Rural population, per capita 0.5534 units per person (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$), per 0.1791 current US$ per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$), per 299.6 current US$ per person (2025)
- Rural population, annual growth rate 1.53 % change on previous year (2025)
- Rural population, per unit of GDP 0.0003 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 395.96 billion current US$ (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 17.9% (2025)
- Rural population 731.42 million (2025)
- Rural population growth 1.5% (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is forest area in Sub-Saharan Africa?
- Forest area in Sub-Saharan Africa was 662.31 million hectares in 2011, according to Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site.
- What is the highest forest area recorded in Sub-Saharan Africa?
- The highest recorded value was 740.80 million hectares in 1990.
- What is the lowest forest area recorded in Sub-Saharan Africa?
- The lowest recorded value was 662.31 million hectares in 2011.
- How does Sub-Saharan Africa rank for forest area?
- Sub-Saharan Africa ranks 2nd out of 2 groups with data for 2011.
- Is forest area rising or falling in Sub-Saharan Africa?
- Over the last ten years it is down 4.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Sub-Saharan Africa data come from?
- The figures come from Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site, published as part of Forest area (hectares). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV Β· JSON β 22 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
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.