Annual change in forest area in India
India: Annual change in forest area was 86,000 hectares in 2025. ▼ Falling
Annual change in forest area in India, 1991–2025
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in hectares.
Analysis
India recorded 86,000 hectares for annual change in forest area in 2025. That is the lowest value across all 35 years on record.
That represents a change of down 67.7% over ten years.
Over the whole period, annual change in forest area in India peaked at 365,300 hectares in 1991 and was at its lowest, 86,000 hectares, in 2021.
India ranks 6th of 235 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 35 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 365,300 hectares | 365,300 hectares | 365,300 hectares | 9 |
| 2000s | 207,980 hectares | 190,500 hectares | 365,300 hectares | 10 |
| 2010s | 270,730 hectares | 190,500 hectares | 296,200 hectares | 10 |
| 2020s | 121,033 hectares | 86,000 hectares | 296,200 hectares | 6 |
Countries ranked near India
More environment data for India
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF 4,371 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF per capita 3.01 t CO2e/capita (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture 572.27 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Building (Energy) 37.74 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Fugitive Emissions (Energy) 108.11 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Industrial Combustion (Energy) 4.39 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF 861.61 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Power Industry (Energy) 1.01 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Transport (Energy) 2.4 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Waste 135.23 Mt CO2e (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is annual change in forest area in India?
- Annual change in forest area in India was 86,000 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 India?
- The highest recorded value was 365,300 hectares in 1991.
- What is the lowest annual change in forest area recorded in India?
- The lowest recorded value was 86,000 hectares in 2021.
- How does India rank for annual change in forest area?
- India ranks 6th out of 235 countries with data for 2025.
- Is annual change in forest area rising or falling in India?
- Over the last ten years it is down 67.7%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this India 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.