What is the difference in forest area between Malawi and Sri Lanka?

88,990 hectares, with Sri Lanka ahead.

How many years of comparable data are there for Malawi and Sri Lanka?

36 years are reported by both, from 1990 to 2025.

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 Forest area. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Malawi vs Sri Lanka: Forest area

Malawi

2.03 million hectares

in 2025

Sri Lanka

2.12 million hectares

in 2025

Malawi rank

110th

Sri Lanka rank

107th

Forest area over time

Malawi
Sri Lanka

How they compare

Sri Lanka currently reports 2.12 million hectares against 2.03 million hectares in Malawi, a difference of 88,990 hectares.

The two have swapped places 1 time across 36 shared years of data; in 1990 it was Malawi ahead.

Malawi ranks 110th and Sri Lanka ranks 107th of 235 countries.

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

Head to head by decade

Decade	Malawi	Sri Lanka	Difference	Ahead
1990s	3.31 million hectares	2.31 million hectares	1.01 million hectares	Malawi
2000s	2.89 million hectares	2.20 million hectares	695,391 hectares	Malawi
2010s	2.47 million hectares	2.12 million hectares	347,705 hectares	Malawi
2020s	2.14 million hectares	2.13 million hectares	3,650 hectares	Malawi

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher forest area, Malawi or Sri Lanka?: Sri Lanka, at 2.12 million hectares against 2.03 million hectares in Malawi as of 2025.
What is the difference in forest area between Malawi and Sri Lanka?: 88,990 hectares, with Sri Lanka ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Malawi and Sri Lanka?: 36 years are reported by both, from 1990 to 2025.
How do Malawi and Sri Lanka rank globally for forest area?: Malawi ranks 110th and Sri Lanka ranks 107th of 235 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 Forest area. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

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Malawi vs Sri Lanka: Forest area. Statizoid, drawing on Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Retrieved 23 September 2026, from https://environment.statizoid.com/compare/forest-area-km/malawi/sri-lanka/

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<a href="https://environment.statizoid.com/compare/forest-area-km/malawi/sri-lanka/">Malawi vs Sri Lanka: Forest area</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator: Forest area
Unit: hectares
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: 235 places, 8,460 data points, 1990–2025
Last refreshed: 18 September 2026

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.