China vs Russia: Annual afforestation

China
923,000 hectares per year
in 2020
Russia
167,910 hectares per year
in 2020
China rank
1st
Russia rank
2nd

Annual afforestation over time

  • China
  • Russia
0500.0k1.0M1.5M199020052020

How they compare

China currently reports 923,000 hectares per year against 167,910 hectares per year in Russia, a difference of 755,090 hectares per year.

That makes China's figure about 5.5 times Russia's.

Across all 5 years both countries report, China has been ahead every year.

China ranks 1st and Russia ranks 2nd of 106 countries.

China has averaged higher in every one of the 4 decades both report.

Head to head by decade

Decade China Russia Difference Ahead
1990s 1.19 million hectares per year 16,080 hectares per year 1.17 million hectares per year China
2000s 1.57 million hectares per year 181,130 hectares per year 1.39 million hectares per year China
2010s 1.12 million hectares per year 138,605 hectares per year 984,825 hectares per year China
2020s 923,000 hectares per year 167,910 hectares per year 755,090 hectares per year China

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher annual afforestation, China or Russia?
China, at 923,000 hectares per year against 167,910 hectares per year in Russia as of 2020.
What is the difference in annual afforestation between China and Russia?
755,090 hectares per year, with China ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for China and Russia?
5 years are reported by both, from 1990 to 2020.
How do China and Russia rank globally for annual afforestation?
China ranks 1st and Russia ranks 2nd of 106 countries.
Where does this data come from?
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as Annual afforestation. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator
Annual afforestation
Unit
hectares per year
Source
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
106 places, 530 data points, 1990–2020
Last refreshed

Afforestation is the establishment of forest through planting and/or deliberate seeding on land that, until then, was not classified as forest.