Forest area in Nigeria
Nigeria: Forest area was 17.13 million hectares in 2025. ▼ Falling
Forest area in Nigeria, 1990–2025
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in hectares.
Analysis
Nigeria recorded 17.13 million hectares for forest area in 2025. That is the lowest value across all 36 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 0.7% on the previous year and down 6.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, forest area in Nigeria peaked at 21.57 million hectares in 1990 and was at its lowest, 17.13 million hectares, in 2025.
Nigeria ranks 39th of 235 countries on this measure, 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 | 21.00 million hectares | 20.43 million hectares | 21.57 million hectares | 10 |
| 2000s | 19.73 million hectares | 19.16 million hectares | 20.30 million hectares | 10 |
| 2010s | 18.46 million hectares | 17.89 million hectares | 19.03 million hectares | 10 |
| 2020s | 17.45 million hectares | 17.13 million hectares | 17.76 million hectares | 6 |
Countries ranked near Nigeria
More environment data for Nigeria
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF 350.56 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF per capita 1.51 t CO2e/capita (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture 56.75 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Building (Energy) 8.67 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Fugitive Emissions (Energy) 75.63 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Industrial Combustion (Energy) 0.1661 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF 175.13 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Power Industry (Energy) 0.0267 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Transport (Energy) 0.5526 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Waste 33.33 Mt CO2e (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is forest area in Nigeria?
- Forest area in Nigeria was 17.13 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 Nigeria?
- The highest recorded value was 21.57 million hectares in 1990.
- What is the lowest forest area recorded in Nigeria?
- The lowest recorded value was 17.13 million hectares in 2025.
- How does Nigeria rank for forest area?
- Nigeria ranks 39th out of 235 countries with data for 2025.
- Is forest area rising or falling in Nigeria?
- Over the last ten years it is down 6.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Nigeria 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.