Forest area in South Africa
South Africa: Forest area was 22.88 million hectares in 2025. ▲ Rising
Forest area in South Africa, 1990–2025
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 South Africa is 22.88 million hectares, measured in 2025. That is the highest value across all 36 years on record.
The figure is up 0.4% on the previous year and up 4.0% over ten years.
Over the whole period, forest area in South Africa peaked at 22.88 million hectares in 2025 and was at its lowest, 19.82 million hectares, in 1990.
That places South Africa 27th out of 235 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 36 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 20.21 million hectares | 19.82 million hectares | 20.60 million hectares | 10 |
| 2000s | 21.09 million hectares | 20.69 million hectares | 21.48 million hectares | 10 |
| 2010s | 21.96 million hectares | 21.57 million hectares | 22.36 million hectares | 10 |
| 2020s | 22.66 million hectares | 22.44 million hectares | 22.88 million hectares | 6 |
Countries ranked near South Africa
More environment data for South Africa
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF 569.81 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF per capita 8.9 t CO2e/capita (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture 25.85 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Building (Energy) 1.31 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Fugitive Emissions (Energy) 40 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Industrial Combustion (Energy) 0.1686 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF 93.23 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Power Industry (Energy) 0.055 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Transport (Energy) 0.1946 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Waste 25.44 Mt CO2e (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is forest area in South Africa?
- Forest area in South Africa was 22.88 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 South Africa?
- The highest recorded value was 22.88 million hectares in 2025.
- What is the lowest forest area recorded in South Africa?
- The lowest recorded value was 19.82 million hectares in 1990.
- How does South Africa rank for forest area?
- South Africa ranks 27th out of 235 countries with data for 2025.
- Is forest area rising or falling in South Africa?
- Over the last ten years it is up 4.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this South Africa 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.