Forest area in Costa Rica
Costa Rica: Forest area was 30,840 sq. km in 2023. ▲ Rising
Forest area in Costa Rica, 1990–2023
Source: FAOSTAT, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Measured in sq. km.
Analysis
The most recent figure for forest area in Costa Rica is 30,840 sq. km, measured in 2023. That is the highest value across all 34 years on record.
That represents a change of up 0.5% on the previous year and up 5.6% over ten years.
Over the whole period, forest area in Costa Rica peaked at 30,840 sq. km in 2023 and was at its lowest, 28,572 sq. km, in 2000.
Costa Rica ranks 90th of 213 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 34 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 28,848 sq. km | 28,622 sq. km | 29,074 sq. km | 10 |
| 2000s | 28,635 sq. km | 28,572 sq. km | 28,698 sq. km | 10 |
| 2010s | 29,448 sq. km | 28,712 sq. km | 30,185 sq. km | 10 |
| 2020s | 30,594 sq. km | 30,349 sq. km | 30,840 sq. km | 4 |
Countries ranked near Costa Rica
More agriculture & rural data for Costa Rica
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 3.46 billion current US$ (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 3.4% (2025)
- Rural population 1.04 million (2025)
- Rural population growth -1.6% (2025)
- Rural population 20.3% (2025)
- Agricultural raw materials imports 1.0% (2024)
- Agricultural raw materials exports 1.1% (2024)
- Agriculture as a share of GDP vs. GDP per capita 3.4% (2025)
- Share of GDP from agriculture 3.4% (2025)
- Land under cereal production 18,980 hectares (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is forest area in Costa Rica?
- Forest area in Costa Rica was 30,840 sq. km in 2023, according to FAOSTAT, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
- What is the highest forest area recorded in Costa Rica?
- The highest recorded value was 30,840 sq. km in 2023.
- What is the lowest forest area recorded in Costa Rica?
- The lowest recorded value was 28,572 sq. km in 2000.
- How does Costa Rica rank for forest area?
- Costa Rica ranks 90th out of 213 countries with data for 2023.
- Is forest area rising or falling in Costa Rica?
- Over the last ten years it is up 5.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Costa Rica data come from?
- The figures come from FAOSTAT, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), published as part of Forest area (sq. km). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 34 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.