Forest area in Zambia
Zambia: Forest area was 49.30 million hectares in 2011. ▼ Falling
Forest area in Zambia, 1990–2011
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site. Measured in hectares.
Analysis
Zambia recorded 49.30 million hectares for forest area in 2011. That is the lowest value across all 22 years on record.
That represents a change of down 0.3% on the previous year and down 3.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, forest area in Zambia peaked at 52.80 million hectares in 1990 and was at its lowest, 49.30 million hectares, in 2011.
Zambia ranks 4th of 53 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 22 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 52.05 million hectares | 51.30 million hectares | 52.80 million hectares | 10 |
| 2000s | 50.38 million hectares | 49.63 million hectares | 51.13 million hectares | 10 |
| 2010s | 49.38 million hectares | 49.30 million hectares | 49.47 million hectares | 2 |
Countries ranked near Zambia
- 1 Democratic Republic of Congo 153.82 million hectares compare
- 2 Sudan 69.95 million hectares compare
- 3 Angola 58.36 million hectares compare
- 5 Mozambique 38.81 million hectares compare
- 6 Tanzania 33.02 million hectares compare
- 7 Central African Republic 22.57 million hectares compare
More agriculture & rural data for Zambia
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 1.19 billion current US$ (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 4.1% (2025)
- Rural population 11.85 million (2025)
- Rural population growth 1.9% (2025)
- Rural population 54.1% (2025)
- Agricultural raw materials imports 0.7% (2024)
- Agricultural raw materials exports 0.4% (2024)
- Agriculture as a share of GDP vs. GDP per capita 4.1% (2025)
- Share of GDP from agriculture 4.1% (2025)
- Land under cereal production 1.56 million hectares (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is forest area in Zambia?
- Forest area in Zambia was 49.30 million hectares in 2011, according to Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site.
- What is the highest forest area recorded in Zambia?
- The highest recorded value was 52.80 million hectares in 1990.
- What is the lowest forest area recorded in Zambia?
- The lowest recorded value was 49.30 million hectares in 2011.
- How does Zambia rank for forest area?
- Zambia ranks 4th out of 53 countries with data for 2011.
- Is forest area rising or falling in Zambia?
- Over the last ten years it is down 3.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Zambia 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 · JSON — 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.