Forest area in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe: Forest area was 13.77 million hectares in 2025. ▼ Falling
Forest area in Zimbabwe, 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 Zimbabwe stood at 13.77 million hectares. That is the lowest value across all 36 years on record.
The figure is down 0.4% on the previous year and down 3.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, forest area in Zimbabwe peaked at 16.72 million hectares in 1990 and was at its lowest, 13.77 million hectares, in 2025.
Zimbabwe ranks 45th 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 | 16.24 million hectares | 15.76 million hectares | 16.72 million hectares | 10 |
| 2000s | 15.18 million hectares | 14.71 million hectares | 15.66 million hectares | 10 |
| 2010s | 14.34 million hectares | 14.09 million hectares | 14.60 million hectares | 10 |
| 2020s | 13.90 million hectares | 13.77 million hectares | 14.03 million hectares | 6 |
Countries ranked near Zimbabwe
More environment data for Zimbabwe
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF 30.78 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF per capita 1.85 t CO2e/capita (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture 9.2 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Building (Energy) 1.05 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Fugitive Emissions (Energy) 0.9067 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Industrial Combustion (Energy) 0.0093 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF 12.79 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Power Industry (Energy) 0.0022 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Transport (Energy) 0.0156 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Waste 1.6 Mt CO2e (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is forest area in Zimbabwe?
- Forest area in Zimbabwe was 13.77 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 Zimbabwe?
- The highest recorded value was 16.72 million hectares in 1990.
- What is the lowest forest area recorded in Zimbabwe?
- The lowest recorded value was 13.77 million hectares in 2025.
- How does Zimbabwe rank for forest area?
- Zimbabwe ranks 45th out of 235 countries with data for 2025.
- Is forest area rising or falling in Zimbabwe?
- Over the last ten years it is down 3.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Zimbabwe 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.