Forest area in Nigeria
Nigeria: Forest area was 211,370 sq. km in 2023. ▼ Falling
Forest area in Nigeria, 1990–2023
Source: FAOSTAT, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Measured in sq. km.
Analysis
Nigeria recorded 211,370 sq. km for forest area in 2023. That is the lowest value across all 34 years on record.
That represents a change of down 0.8% on the previous year and down 7.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, forest area in Nigeria peaked at 265,261 sq. km in 1990 and was at its lowest, 211,370 sq. km, in 2023.
That places Nigeria 29th out of 213 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 34 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 257,912 sq. km | 250,563 sq. km | 265,261 sq. km | 10 |
| 2000s | 241,582 sq. km | 234,233 sq. km | 248,930 sq. km | 10 |
| 2010s | 225,251 sq. km | 217,902 sq. km | 232,600 sq. km | 10 |
| 2020s | 213,820 sq. km | 211,370 sq. km | 216,270 sq. km | 4 |
Countries ranked near Nigeria
More agriculture & rural data for Nigeria
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 66.82 billion current US$ (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 23.0% (2025)
- Rural population 86.04 million (2025)
- Rural population growth -0.1% (2025)
- Rural population 36.2% (2025)
- Agricultural raw materials imports 0.6% (2024)
- Agricultural raw materials exports 0.4% (2024)
- Agriculture as a share of GDP vs. GDP per capita 23.0% (2025)
- Share of GDP from agriculture 23.0% (2025)
- Land under cereal production 18.28 million hectares (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is forest area in Nigeria?
- Forest area in Nigeria was 211,370 sq. km in 2023, according to FAOSTAT, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
- What is the highest forest area recorded in Nigeria?
- The highest recorded value was 265,261 sq. km in 1990.
- What is the lowest forest area recorded in Nigeria?
- The lowest recorded value was 211,370 sq. km in 2023.
- How does Nigeria rank for forest area?
- Nigeria ranks 29th out of 213 countries with data for 2023.
- Is forest area rising or falling in Nigeria?
- Over the last ten years it is down 7.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Nigeria 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.