Forest land — Area in Africa

Africa: Forest land — Area was 662,630 1000 ha in 2025. ▼ Falling

Latest (2025)
662,630 1000 ha
Change on year
down 0.4%
Rank
9th
of 36 groups
All-time high
779,536 1000 ha
in 1990
All-time low
662,630 1000 ha
in 2025
Years of data
36
1990–2025

Forest land — Area in Africa, 1990–2025

0200.0k400.0k600.0k800.0k1990200720251990: 779.5k 1000 ha1991: 776.3k 1000 ha1992: 773.0k 1000 ha1993: 769.7k 1000 ha1994: 766.4k 1000 ha1995: 763.1k 1000 ha1996: 759.9k 1000 ha1997: 756.6k 1000 ha1998: 753.3k 1000 ha1999: 750.0k 1000 ha2000: 746.8k 1000 ha2001: 743.4k 1000 ha2002: 740.0k 1000 ha2003: 736.6k 1000 ha2004: 733.2k 1000 ha2005: 729.8k 1000 ha2006: 726.4k 1000 ha2007: 723.1k 1000 ha2008: 719.7k 1000 ha2009: 716.3k 1000 ha2010: 712.9k 1000 ha2011: 708.8k 1000 ha2012: 704.6k 1000 ha2013: 700.5k 1000 ha2014: 696.4k 1000 ha2015: 692.2k 1000 ha2016: 689.2k 1000 ha2017: 686.1k 1000 ha2018: 683.0k 1000 ha2019: 679.9k 1000 ha2020: 676.9k 1000 ha2021: 674.0k 1000 ha2022: 671.2k 1000 ha2023: 668.3k 1000 ha2024: 665.5k 1000 ha2025: 662.6k 1000 ha

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in 1000 ha.

Analysis

The most recent figure for forest land — area in Africa is 662,630 1000 ha, measured in 2025. That is the lowest value across all 36 years on record.

The figure is down 0.4% on the previous year and down 4.3% over ten years.

Over the whole period, forest land — area in Africa peaked at 779,536 1000 ha in 1990 and was at its lowest, 662,630 1000 ha, in 2025.

That places Africa 9th out of 36 groups with data for 2025, putting it in the top quarter.

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

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1990s 764,785 1000 ha 750,035 1000 ha 779,536 1000 ha 10
2000s 731,519 1000 ha 716,281 1000 ha 746,757 1000 ha 10
2010s 695,359 1000 ha 679,935 1000 ha 712,895 1000 ha 10
2020s 669,745 1000 ha 662,630 1000 ha 676,859 1000 ha 6

Countries ranked near Africa

  1. 7 Australia and New Zealand 143,865 1000 ha compare
  2. 8 Democratic Republic of the Congo 139,189 1000 ha compare
  3. 9 Australia 133,562 1000 ha compare
  4. 10 Indonesia 95,969 1000 ha compare
  5. 11 India 72,739 1000 ha compare
  6. 12 Peru 67,160 1000 ha compare

See the full ranking of 267 places →

More environment data for Africa

All data for Africa →

Frequently asked questions

What is forest land — area in Africa?
Forest land — area in Africa was 662,630 1000 ha in 2025, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
What is the highest forest land — area recorded in Africa?
The highest recorded value was 779,536 1000 ha in 1990.
What is the lowest forest land — area recorded in Africa?
The lowest recorded value was 662,630 1000 ha in 2025.
How does Africa rank for forest land — area?
Africa ranks 9th out of 36 groups with data for 2025.
Is forest land — area rising or falling in Africa?
Over the last ten years it is down 4.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
Where does this Africa data come from?
The figures come from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, published as part of Forest land — Area. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 36 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO).

About this data

Indicator
Forest land — Area
Unit
1000 ha
Source
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Licence
CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO)
Coverage
267 places, 9,311 data points, 1990–2025
Last refreshed

The FAOSTAT Land Use domain contains data on twenty-one land use categories and twenty-three categories of irrigation and agricultural practices. Data are available yearly and by country, regional and global levels. The domain includes Land Use Indicators providing information on the percentage share of agricultural and forest land, and their sub-components, including irrigated areas and areas under organic agriculture, within a country land use matrix. Data are available at country, regional and global level, for the following elements: (in percentage) i) Share in Land area; ii) Share in Agricultural land, iii) Share in Cropland; and iv) Share in Forest land; (in ha/pc) v) Area per capita.