Forest area in Iceland
Iceland: Forest area was 61,480 hectares in 2025. ▲ Rising
Forest area in Iceland, 1990–2025
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in hectares.
Analysis
Iceland recorded 61,480 hectares for forest area in 2025. That is the highest value across all 36 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 1.6% on the previous year and up 15.5% over ten years.
Over the whole period, forest area in Iceland peaked at 61,480 hectares in 2025 and was at its lowest, 17,930 hectares, in 1990.
Iceland ranks 168th of 235 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 36 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 24,360 hectares | 17,930 hectares | 30,791 hectares | 10 |
| 2000s | 39,654 hectares | 32,220 hectares | 47,088 hectares | 10 |
| 2010s | 52,569 hectares | 48,740 hectares | 55,974 hectares | 10 |
| 2020s | 59,070 hectares | 56,660 hectares | 61,480 hectares | 6 |
Countries ranked near Iceland
- 166 Jordan 70,700 hectares compare
- 167 Micronesia (country) 64,570 hectares compare
- 169 Dominica 57,350 hectares compare
- 170 Sao Tome and Principe 55,280 hectares compare
More environment data for Iceland
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF 4.28 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF per capita 11.08 t CO2e/capita (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture 0.2793 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Building (Energy) 0.0015 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Fugitive Emissions (Energy) 0 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Industrial Combustion (Energy) 0.0001 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF 0.4807 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Power Industry (Energy) 0 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Transport (Energy) 0.0021 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Waste 0.194 Mt CO2e (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is forest area in Iceland?
- Forest area in Iceland was 61,480 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 Iceland?
- The highest recorded value was 61,480 hectares in 2025.
- What is the lowest forest area recorded in Iceland?
- The lowest recorded value was 17,930 hectares in 1990.
- How does Iceland rank for forest area?
- Iceland ranks 168th out of 235 countries with data for 2025.
- Is forest area rising or falling in Iceland?
- Over the last ten years it is up 15.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Iceland 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.