Forest area in Zambia
Zambia: Forest area was 44.87 million hectares in 2025. ▼ Falling
Forest area in Zambia, 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 Zambia is 44.87 million hectares, measured in 2025. That is the lowest value across all 36 years on record.
The figure is down 0.2% on the previous year and down 1.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, forest area in Zambia peaked at 47.41 million hectares in 1990 and was at its lowest, 44.87 million hectares, in 2025.
Zambia ranks 18th 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
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 47.25 million hectares | 47.09 million hectares | 47.41 million hectares | 10 |
| 2000s | 46.89 million hectares | 46.73 million hectares | 47.05 million hectares | 10 |
| 2010s | 45.96 million hectares | 45.44 million hectares | 46.70 million hectares | 10 |
| 2020s | 45.12 million hectares | 44.87 million hectares | 45.36 million hectares | 6 |
Countries ranked near Zambia
- 15 Venezuela 47.09 million hectares compare
- 16 Argentina 46.60 million hectares compare
- 17 Central African Republic 45.09 million hectares compare
- 19 Tanzania 43.40 million hectares compare
- 20 Papua New Guinea 34.03 million hectares compare
- 21 Mozambique 32.24 million hectares compare
More environment data for Zambia
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF 38.52 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF per capita 1.81 t CO2e/capita (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture 6.39 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Building (Energy) 2.21 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Fugitive Emissions (Energy) 8.56 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Industrial Combustion (Energy) 0.0539 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF 18.28 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Power Industry (Energy) 0.0026 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Transport (Energy) 0.0155 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Waste 1.04 Mt CO2e (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is forest area in Zambia?
- Forest area in Zambia was 44.87 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 Zambia?
- The highest recorded value was 47.41 million hectares in 1990.
- What is the lowest forest area recorded in Zambia?
- The lowest recorded value was 44.87 million hectares in 2025.
- How does Zambia rank for forest area?
- Zambia ranks 18th out of 235 countries with data for 2025.
- Is forest area rising or falling in Zambia?
- Over the last ten years it is down 1.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Zambia 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.