Annual forest expansion in Congo
Congo: Annual forest expansion was 14,000 hectares per year in 2020. ◆ Volatile
Annual forest expansion in Congo, 1990–2020
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in hectares per year.
Analysis
In 2020, annual forest expansion in Congo stood at 14,000 hectares per year. That is the highest value across all 5 years on record.
Over the whole period, annual forest expansion in Congo peaked at 14,000 hectares per year in 2020 and was at its lowest, 0 hectares per year, in 1990.
Congo ranks 24th of 110 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 0 hectares per year | 0 hectares per year | 0 hectares per year | 1 |
| 2000s | 0 hectares per year | 0 hectares per year | 0 hectares per year | 1 |
| 2010s | 0 hectares per year | 0 hectares per year | 0 hectares per year | 2 |
| 2020s | 14,000 hectares per year | 14,000 hectares per year | 14,000 hectares per year | 1 |
Countries ranked near Congo
More environment data for Congo
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF 24.62 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF per capita 3.89 t CO2e/capita (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture 0.4604 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Building (Energy) 0.4601 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Fugitive Emissions (Energy) 13.3 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Industrial Combustion (Energy) 0.0013 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF 14.96 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Power Industry (Energy) 0.0052 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Transport (Energy) 0.0073 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Waste 0.7254 Mt CO2e (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is annual forest expansion in Congo?
- Annual forest expansion in Congo was 14,000 hectares per year in 2020, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest annual forest expansion recorded in Congo?
- The highest recorded value was 14,000 hectares per year in 2020.
- What is the lowest annual forest expansion recorded in Congo?
- The lowest recorded value was 0 hectares per year in 1990.
- How does Congo rank for annual forest expansion?
- Congo ranks 24th out of 110 countries with data for 2020.
- Where does this Congo 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 forest expansion. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 5 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
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).