Forest area in Tanzania

Tanzania: Forest area was 43.40 million hectares in 2025. ▼ Falling

Latest (2025)
43.40 million hectares
Change on year
down 1.1%
World rank
19th
of 235 countries
All-time high
58.16 million hectares
in 1990
All-time low
43.40 million hectares
in 2025
Years of data
36
1990–2025

Forest area in Tanzania, 1990–2025

020.0M40.0M60.0M1990200720251990: 58.2M hectares1991: 57.8M hectares1992: 57.4M hectares1993: 57.0M hectares1994: 56.6M hectares1995: 56.1M hectares1996: 55.7M hectares1997: 55.3M hectares1998: 54.9M hectares1999: 54.5M hectares2000: 54.1M hectares2001: 53.7M hectares2002: 53.3M hectares2003: 52.9M hectares2004: 52.5M hectares2005: 52.1M hectares2006: 51.7M hectares2007: 51.3M hectares2008: 50.9M hectares2009: 50.5M hectares2010: 50.1M hectares2011: 49.7M hectares2012: 49.3M hectares2013: 48.9M hectares2014: 48.5M hectares2015: 48.1M hectares2016: 47.6M hectares2017: 47.2M hectares2018: 46.7M hectares2019: 46.2M hectares2020: 45.7M hectares2021: 45.3M hectares2022: 44.8M hectares2023: 44.3M hectares2024: 43.9M hectares2025: 43.4M hectares

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 Tanzania stood at 43.40 million hectares. That is the lowest value across all 36 years on record.

The figure is down 1.1% on the previous year and down 9.8% over ten years.

Over the whole period, forest area in Tanzania peaked at 58.16 million hectares in 1990 and was at its lowest, 43.40 million hectares, in 2025.

Tanzania ranks 19th of 235 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.

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

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1990s 56.35 million hectares 54.54 million hectares 58.16 million hectares 10
2000s 52.32 million hectares 50.51 million hectares 54.13 million hectares 10
2010s 48.23 million hectares 46.21 million hectares 50.10 million hectares 10
2020s 44.57 million hectares 43.40 million hectares 45.74 million hectares 6

Countries ranked near Tanzania

  1. 16 Argentina 46.60 million hectares compare
  2. 17 Central African Republic 45.09 million hectares compare
  3. 18 Zambia 44.87 million hectares compare
  4. 20 Papua New Guinea 34.03 million hectares compare
  5. 21 Mozambique 32.24 million hectares compare
  6. 22 Sweden 27.93 million hectares compare

See the full ranking of 235 places →

More environment data for Tanzania

All data for Tanzania →

Frequently asked questions

What is forest area in Tanzania?
Forest area in Tanzania was 43.40 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 Tanzania?
The highest recorded value was 58.16 million hectares in 1990.
What is the lowest forest area recorded in Tanzania?
The lowest recorded value was 43.40 million hectares in 2025.
How does Tanzania rank for forest area?
Tanzania ranks 19th out of 235 countries with data for 2025.
Is forest area rising or falling in Tanzania?
Over the last ten years it is down 9.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
Where does this Tanzania 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.