Annual change in forest area in Iceland
Iceland: Annual change in forest area was 964 hectares in 2025. ▼ Falling
Annual change in forest area in Iceland, 1991–2025
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in hectares.
Analysis
Iceland recorded 964 hectares for annual change in forest area in 2025.
That represents a change of up 7.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, annual change in forest area in Iceland peaked at 1,652 hectares in 2001 and was at its lowest, 686 hectares, in 2016.
Iceland ranks 56th of 235 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 35 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 1,429 hectares | 1,429 hectares | 1,429 hectares | 9 |
| 2000s | 1,630 hectares | 1,429 hectares | 1,652 hectares | 10 |
| 2010s | 888.6 hectares | 686 hectares | 1,652 hectares | 10 |
| 2020s | 917.67 hectares | 686 hectares | 964 hectares | 6 |
Countries ranked near Iceland
- 53 Haiti 1,400 hectares compare
- 54 Croatia 1,320 hectares compare
- 55 Bosnia and Herzegovina 1,040 hectares compare
- 57 El Salvador 836.01 hectares compare
- 58 Cape Verde 620 hectares compare
- 59 Estonia 575.98 hectares compare
More environment data for Iceland
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF 4.28 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF per capita 11.08 t CO2e/capita (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture 0.2793 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Building (Energy) 0.0015 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Fugitive Emissions (Energy) 0 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Industrial Combustion (Energy) 0.0001 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF 0.4807 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Power Industry (Energy) 0 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Transport (Energy) 0.0021 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Waste 0.194 Mt CO2e (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is annual change in forest area in Iceland?
- Annual change in forest area in Iceland was 964 hectares in 2025, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest annual change in forest area recorded in Iceland?
- The highest recorded value was 1,652 hectares in 2001.
- What is the lowest annual change in forest area recorded in Iceland?
- The lowest recorded value was 686 hectares in 2016.
- How does Iceland rank for annual change in forest area?
- Iceland ranks 56th out of 235 countries with data for 2025.
- Is annual change in forest area rising or falling in Iceland?
- Over the last ten years it is up 7.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Iceland data come from?
- The figures come from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Annual change in forest area. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 35 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Net change in forest area measures forest expansion (the sum of afforestation and natural expansion) minus deforestation.