Forest area in Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso: Forest area was 3.24 million hectares in 2025. ▼ Falling
Forest area in Burkina Faso, 1990–2025
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in hectares.
Analysis
In 2025, forest area in Burkina Faso stood at 3.24 million hectares. That is the lowest value across all 36 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 3.6% on the previous year and down 27.0% over ten years.
Over the whole period, forest area in Burkina Faso peaked at 8.30 million hectares in 1990 and was at its lowest, 3.24 million hectares, in 2025.
Burkina Faso ranks 90th of 235 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 36 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 7.43 million hectares | 6.57 million hectares | 8.30 million hectares | 10 |
| 2000s | 5.77 million hectares | 5.17 million hectares | 6.38 million hectares | 10 |
| 2010s | 4.50 million hectares | 3.96 million hectares | 5.03 million hectares | 10 |
| 2020s | 3.54 million hectares | 3.24 million hectares | 3.84 million hectares | 6 |
Countries ranked near Burkina Faso
More environment data for Burkina Faso
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF 34.92 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF per capita 1.48 t CO2e/capita (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture 14.39 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Building (Energy) 1.67 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Fugitive Emissions (Energy) 2.3 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Industrial Combustion (Energy) 0.0021 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF 21 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Power Industry (Energy) 0.0014 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Transport (Energy) 0.0197 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Waste 2.61 Mt CO2e (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is forest area in Burkina Faso?
- Forest area in Burkina Faso was 3.24 million 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 forest area recorded in Burkina Faso?
- The highest recorded value was 8.30 million hectares in 1990.
- What is the lowest forest area recorded in Burkina Faso?
- The lowest recorded value was 3.24 million hectares in 2025.
- How does Burkina Faso rank for forest area?
- Burkina Faso ranks 90th out of 235 countries with data for 2025.
- Is forest area rising or falling in Burkina Faso?
- Over the last ten years it is down 27.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Burkina Faso 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 Forest area. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 36 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Forest area is land under natural or planted stands of trees of at least 5 meters in situ, whether productive or not, and excludes tree stands in agricultural production systems.