Annual change in forest area as a share of forest area in Madagascar
Madagascar: Annual change in forest area as a share of forest area was -1.3% in 2025. ▼ Falling
Annual change in forest area as a share of forest area in Madagascar, 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 Madagascar stood at -1.3%.
The figure is down 1.3% on the previous year and up 12.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, annual change in forest area as a share of forest area in Madagascar peaked at -0.5% in 1991 and was at its lowest, -1.4%, in 2015.
That places Madagascar 219th out of 228 countries with data for 2025, putting it 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 Madagascar, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1991 | -0.5% | — |
| 1992 | -0.5% | +0.5% |
| 1993 | -0.5% | +0.5% |
| 1994 | -0.5% | +0.5% |
| 1995 | -0.5% | +0.5% |
| 1996 | -0.5% | +0.5% |
| 1997 | -0.5% | +0.5% |
| 1998 | -0.5% | +0.5% |
| 1999 | -0.5% | +0.5% |
| 2000 | -0.5% | +0.5% |
| 2001 | -0.8% | +62.5% |
| 2002 | -0.8% | +0.8% |
| 2003 | -0.8% | +0.8% |
| 2004 | -0.8% | +0.8% |
| 2005 | -0.9% | +0.9% |
| 2006 | -0.9% | +0.9% |
| 2007 | -0.9% | +0.9% |
| 2008 | -0.9% | +0.9% |
| 2009 | -0.9% | +0.9% |
| 2010 | -0.9% | +0.9% |
| 2011 | -1.4% | +52.0% |
| 2012 | -1.4% | +1.4% |
| 2013 | -1.4% | +1.4% |
| 2014 | -1.4% | +1.4% |
| 2015 | -1.4% | +1.4% |
| 2016 | -1.1% | -24.0% |
| 2017 | -1.1% | +1.1% |
| 2018 | -1.1% | +1.1% |
| 2019 | -1.1% | +1.1% |
| 2020 | -1.1% | +1.1% |
| 2021 | -1.2% | +4.4% |
| 2022 | -1.2% | +1.2% |
| 2023 | -1.2% | +1.2% |
| 2024 | -1.2% | +1.2% |
| 2025 | -1.3% | +1.3% |
Madagascar compared with similar countries
- Madagascar's -1.3% is below the median for low income countries, which is -0.5%, 2.7× the median. (25 countries reporting)
- Madagascar's -1.3% is below the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is -0.3%, 3.6× the median. (48 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Annual change in forest area as a share of forest area in Madagascar 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | -62.5% | -0.5% | -0.8% |
| 2011 | -52.0% | -0.9% | -1.4% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | -0.5% | -0.5% | -0.5% | 9 |
| 2000s | -0.8% | -0.9% | -0.5% | 10 |
| 2010s | -1.2% | -1.4% | -0.9% | 10 |
| 2020s | -1.2% | -1.3% | -1.1% | 6 |
Countries ranked near Madagascar
More environment data for Madagascar
- Standard Deviation, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Standard Deviation 0.297 °C (2025)
- Temperature change 1.17 °C (2025)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), annual 0.2369 % 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 -1.01 % 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)
Frequently asked questions
- What is annual change in forest area as a share of forest area in Madagascar?
- Annual change in forest area as a share of forest area in Madagascar was -1.3% 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 Madagascar?
- The highest recorded value was -0.5% in 1991.
- What is the lowest annual change in forest area as a share of forest area recorded in Madagascar?
- The lowest recorded value was -1.4% in 2015.
- How does Madagascar rank for annual change in forest area as a share of forest area?
- Madagascar ranks 219th out of 228 countries with data for 2025.
- Is annual change in forest area as a share of forest area rising or falling in Madagascar?
- Over the last ten years it is up 12.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Madagascar 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.