China vs India: Annual forest expansion
China
1.89 million hectares per year
in 2020
India
674,000 hectares per year
in 2020
China rank
1st
India rank
4th
Annual forest expansion over time
- China
- India
How they compare
China currently reports 1.89 million hectares per year against 674,000 hectares per year in India, a difference of 1.21 million hectares per year.
That makes China's figure about 2.8 times India's.
Across all 5 years both countries report, China has been ahead every year.
China ranks 1st and India ranks 4th of 110 countries.
China has averaged higher in every one of the 4 decades both report.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | China | India | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 2.31 million hectares per year | 749,300 hectares per year | 1.56 million hectares per year | China |
| 2000s | 2.67 million hectares per year | 820,000 hectares per year | 1.85 million hectares per year | China |
| 2010s | 2.18 million hectares per year | 946,400 hectares per year | 1.23 million hectares per year | China |
| 2020s | 1.89 million hectares per year | 674,000 hectares per year | 1.21 million hectares per year | China |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher annual forest expansion, China or India?
- China, at 1.89 million hectares per year against 674,000 hectares per year in India as of 2020.
- What is the difference in annual forest expansion between China and India?
- 1.21 million hectares per year, with China ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for China and India?
- 5 years are reported by both, from 1990 to 2020.
- How do China and India rank globally for annual forest expansion?
- China ranks 1st and India ranks 4th of 110 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 forest expansion. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
Forest expansion is the sum of afforestation (the establishment of forest through planting and/or deliberate seeding) and natural forest expansion (expansion of forests through natural succession on land that, until then, was under another land use).