Forest area in Italy

Italy: Forest area was 9.42 million hectares in 2025. ▲ Rising

Latest (2025)
9.42 million hectares
Change on year
up 0.1%
World rank
56th
of 235 countries
All-time high
9.42 million hectares
in 2025
All-time low
7.59 million hectares
in 1990
Years of data
36
1990–2025

Forest area in Italy, 1990–2025

02.0M4.0M6.0M8.0M10.0M1990200720251990: 7.6M hectares1991: 7.7M hectares1992: 7.7M hectares1993: 7.8M hectares1994: 7.9M hectares1995: 8.0M hectares1996: 8.1M hectares1997: 8.1M hectares1998: 8.2M hectares1999: 8.3M hectares2000: 8.4M hectares2001: 8.4M hectares2002: 8.5M hectares2003: 8.6M hectares2004: 8.6M hectares2005: 8.7M hectares2006: 8.8M hectares2007: 8.8M hectares2008: 8.9M hectares2009: 9.0M hectares2010: 9.0M hectares2011: 9.0M hectares2012: 9.0M hectares2013: 9.0M hectares2014: 8.9M hectares2015: 8.9M hectares2016: 9.0M hectares2017: 9.1M hectares2018: 9.2M hectares2019: 9.3M hectares2020: 9.4M hectares2021: 9.4M hectares2022: 9.4M hectares2023: 9.4M hectares2024: 9.4M hectares2025: 9.4M hectares

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in hectares.

Analysis

The most recent figure for forest area in Italy is 9.42 million hectares, measured in 2025. That is the highest value across all 36 years on record.

The figure is up 0.1% on the previous year and up 5.8% over ten years.

Over the whole period, forest area in Italy peaked at 9.42 million hectares in 2025 and was at its lowest, 7.59 million hectares, in 1990.

Italy ranks 56th of 235 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 36 years of available data.

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1990s 7.94 million hectares 7.59 million hectares 8.29 million hectares 10
2000s 8.67 million hectares 8.37 million hectares 8.96 million hectares 10
2010s 9.03 million hectares 8.91 million hectares 9.27 million hectares 10
2020s 9.39 million hectares 9.36 million hectares 9.42 million hectares 6

Countries ranked near Italy

  1. 53 Ukraine 10.09 million hectares compare
  2. 54 Madagascar 9.92 million hectares compare
  3. 55 Poland 9.49 million hectares compare
  4. 57 Belarus 8.98 million hectares compare
  5. 58 Senegal 8.65 million hectares compare
  6. 59 Namibia 8.04 million hectares compare

See the full ranking of 235 places →

More environment data for Italy

All data for Italy →

Frequently asked questions

What is forest area in Italy?
Forest area in Italy was 9.42 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 Italy?
The highest recorded value was 9.42 million hectares in 2025.
What is the lowest forest area recorded in Italy?
The lowest recorded value was 7.59 million hectares in 1990.
How does Italy rank for forest area?
Italy ranks 56th out of 235 countries with data for 2025.
Is forest area rising or falling in Italy?
Over the last ten years it is up 5.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Italy 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

Indicator
Forest area
Unit
hectares
Source
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
235 places, 8,460 data points, 1990–2025
Last refreshed

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.