Annual change in forest area as a share of forest area in Laos
Laos: Annual change in forest area as a share of forest area was -0.3% in 2025. ▼ Falling
Annual change in forest area as a share of forest area in Laos, 1991–2025
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
In 2025, annual change in forest area as a share of forest area in Laos stood at -0.3%.
That represents a change of down 0.3% on the previous year and up 37.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, annual change in forest area as a share of forest area in Laos peaked at -0.2% in 2016 and was at its lowest, -0.4%, in 2015.
Laos ranks 181st of 228 countries on this measure, in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 35 years of available data.
Annual change in forest area as a share of forest area in Laos, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1991 | -0.2% | — |
| 1992 | -0.2% | +0.2% |
| 1993 | -0.2% | +0.2% |
| 1994 | -0.2% | +0.2% |
| 1995 | -0.2% | +0.2% |
| 1996 | -0.2% | +0.2% |
| 1997 | -0.2% | +0.2% |
| 1998 | -0.2% | +0.2% |
| 1999 | -0.2% | +0.2% |
| 2000 | -0.2% | +0.2% |
| 2001 | -0.3% | +11.8% |
| 2002 | -0.3% | +0.3% |
| 2003 | -0.3% | +0.3% |
| 2004 | -0.3% | +0.3% |
| 2005 | -0.3% | +0.3% |
| 2006 | -0.3% | +0.3% |
| 2007 | -0.3% | +0.3% |
| 2008 | -0.3% | +0.3% |
| 2009 | -0.3% | +0.3% |
| 2010 | -0.3% | +0.3% |
| 2011 | -0.4% | +50.2% |
| 2012 | -0.4% | +0.4% |
| 2013 | -0.4% | +0.4% |
| 2014 | -0.4% | +0.4% |
| 2015 | -0.4% | +0.4% |
| 2016 | -0.2% | -46.1% |
| 2017 | -0.2% | +0.2% |
| 2018 | -0.2% | +0.2% |
| 2019 | -0.2% | +0.2% |
| 2020 | -0.2% | +0.2% |
| 2021 | -0.3% | +13.1% |
| 2022 | -0.3% | +0.3% |
| 2023 | -0.3% | +0.3% |
| 2024 | -0.3% | +0.3% |
| 2025 | -0.3% | +0.3% |
Laos compared with similar countries
- Laos's -0.3% is below the median for lower middle income countries, which is -0.0%, 9.3× the median. (47 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Annual change in forest area as a share of forest area in Laos changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | -50.2% | -0.3% | -0.4% |
| 2016 | +46.1% | -0.4% | -0.2% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | -0.2% | -0.2% | -0.2% | 9 |
| 2000s | -0.3% | -0.3% | -0.2% | 10 |
| 2010s | -0.3% | -0.4% | -0.2% | 10 |
| 2020s | -0.3% | -0.3% | -0.2% | 6 |
Countries ranked near Laos
More environment data for Laos
- Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly -1.77 Percentage change (2025)
- Historical exposure to drought — Cropland soil moisture anomaly -1.51 Percentage change (2025)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), annual 0.9142 % change on previous year (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), per unit 0 Mt CO2e per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), per capita 0 Mt CO2e per person (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture (Mt CO2e), annual growth rate 0.4183 % change on previous year (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture (Mt CO2e), per unit of GDP 0 Mt CO2e per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture (Mt CO2e), per capita 0 Mt CO2e per person (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Building (Energy) (Mt CO2e), annual 0 % change on previous year (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Building (Energy) (Mt CO2e), per unit of 0 Mt CO2e per US$ of GDP (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is annual change in forest area as a share of forest area in Laos?
- Annual change in forest area as a share of forest area in Laos was -0.3% 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 as a share of forest area recorded in Laos?
- The highest recorded value was -0.2% in 2016.
- What is the lowest annual change in forest area as a share of forest area recorded in Laos?
- The lowest recorded value was -0.4% in 2015.
- How does Laos rank for annual change in forest area as a share of forest area?
- Laos ranks 181st out of 228 countries with data for 2025.
- Is annual change in forest area as a share of forest area rising or falling in Laos?
- Over the last ten years it is up 37.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Laos 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 as a share of 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
Annual net change in forest area measures forest expansion (the sum of afforestation and natural expansion) minus deforestation.