Forest area in Laos
Laos: Forest area was 13.04 million hectares in 2025. ▼ Falling
Forest area in Laos, 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 Laos stood at 13.04 million hectares. That is the lowest value across all 36 years on record.
The figure is down 0.3% on the previous year and down 2.5% over ten years.
Over the whole period, forest area in Laos peaked at 14.40 million hectares in 1990 and was at its lowest, 13.04 million hectares, in 2025.
That places Laos 46th out of 235 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 36 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 14.24 million hectares | 14.09 million hectares | 14.40 million hectares | 10 |
| 2000s | 13.87 million hectares | 13.70 million hectares | 14.05 million hectares | 10 |
| 2010s | 13.43 million hectares | 13.24 million hectares | 13.66 million hectares | 10 |
| 2020s | 13.12 million hectares | 13.04 million hectares | 13.21 million hectares | 6 |
Countries ranked near Laos
More environment data for Laos
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF 41.55 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF per capita 5.35 t CO2e/capita (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture 9.63 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Building (Energy) 0.5411 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Fugitive Emissions (Energy) 1.65 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Industrial Combustion (Energy) 0.0059 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF 12.32 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Power Industry (Energy) 0.005 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Transport (Energy) 0.0081 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Waste 0.4771 Mt CO2e (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is forest area in Laos?
- Forest area in Laos was 13.04 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 Laos?
- The highest recorded value was 14.40 million hectares in 1990.
- What is the lowest forest area recorded in Laos?
- The lowest recorded value was 13.04 million hectares in 2025.
- How does Laos rank for forest area?
- Laos ranks 46th out of 235 countries with data for 2025.
- Is forest area rising or falling in Laos?
- Over the last ten years it is down 2.5%. 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 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.