Forest land — Area in New Zealand

New Zealand: Forest land — Area was 10,303 1000 ha in 2025. ▲ Rising

Latest (2025)
10,303 1000 ha
Change on year
up 0.7%
World rank
54th
of 231 countries
All-time high
10,303 1000 ha
in 2025
All-time low
9,372 1000 ha
in 1990
Years of data
36
1990–2025

Forest land — Area in New Zealand, 1990–2025

02.5k5.0k7.5k10.0k1990200720251990: 9.4k 1000 ha1991: 9.4k 1000 ha1992: 9.5k 1000 ha1993: 9.5k 1000 ha1994: 9.6k 1000 ha1995: 9.6k 1000 ha1996: 9.7k 1000 ha1997: 9.7k 1000 ha1998: 9.8k 1000 ha1999: 9.8k 1000 ha2000: 9.9k 1000 ha2001: 9.9k 1000 ha2002: 9.8k 1000 ha2003: 9.8k 1000 ha2004: 9.8k 1000 ha2005: 9.8k 1000 ha2006: 9.8k 1000 ha2007: 9.8k 1000 ha2008: 9.8k 1000 ha2009: 9.8k 1000 ha2010: 9.8k 1000 ha2011: 9.8k 1000 ha2012: 9.8k 1000 ha2013: 9.8k 1000 ha2014: 9.8k 1000 ha2015: 9.8k 1000 ha2016: 9.9k 1000 ha2017: 9.9k 1000 ha2018: 9.9k 1000 ha2019: 9.9k 1000 ha2020: 10.0k 1000 ha2021: 10.0k 1000 ha2022: 10.1k 1000 ha2023: 10.2k 1000 ha2024: 10.2k 1000 ha2025: 10.3k 1000 ha

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

Analysis

New Zealand recorded 10,303 1000 ha for forest land — area in 2025. That is the highest value across all 36 years on record.

That represents a change of up 0.7% on the previous year and up 4.6% over ten years.

Over the whole period, forest land — area in New Zealand peaked at 10,303 1000 ha in 2025 and was at its lowest, 9,372 1000 ha, in 1990.

That places New Zealand 54th out of 231 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

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1990s 9,587 1000 ha 9,372 1000 ha 9,803 1000 ha 10
2000s 9,849 1000 ha 9,848 1000 ha 9,850 1000 ha 10
2010s 9,871 1000 ha 9,847 1000 ha 9,942 1000 ha 10
2020s 10,134 1000 ha 9,965 1000 ha 10,303 1000 ha 6

Countries ranked near New Zealand

  1. 51 Germany 11,481 1000 ha compare
  2. 52 Iran (Islamic Republic of) 10,751 1000 ha compare
  3. 53 Mali 10,479 1000 ha compare
  4. 55 Ukraine 10,090 1000 ha compare
  5. 56 Madagascar 9,922 1000 ha compare
  6. 57 Poland 9,495 1000 ha compare

See the full ranking of 267 places →

More environment data for New Zealand

All data for New Zealand →

Frequently asked questions

What is forest land — area in New Zealand?
Forest land — area in New Zealand was 10,303 1000 ha in 2025, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
What is the highest forest land — area recorded in New Zealand?
The highest recorded value was 10,303 1000 ha in 2025.
What is the lowest forest land — area recorded in New Zealand?
The lowest recorded value was 9,372 1000 ha in 1990.
How does New Zealand rank for forest land — area?
New Zealand ranks 54th out of 231 countries with data for 2025.
Is forest land — area rising or falling in New Zealand?
Over the last ten years it is up 4.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this New Zealand 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.