Forest land — Area in Southern Africa
Southern Africa: Forest land — Area was 47,122 1000 ha in 2025. ▲ Rising
Forest land — Area in Southern Africa, 1990–2025
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in 1000 ha.
Analysis
In 2025, forest land — area in Southern Africa stood at 47,122 1000 ha. That is the highest value across all 36 years on record.
That represents a change of up 0.2% on the previous year and up 1.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, forest land — area in Southern Africa peaked at 47,122 1000 ha in 2025 and was at its lowest, 44,834 1000 ha, in 1990.
Southern Africa ranks 28th of 36 groups on this measure, in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 36 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 44,901 1000 ha | 44,834 1000 ha | 44,969 1000 ha | 10 |
| 2000s | 45,369 1000 ha | 44,984 1000 ha | 45,753 1000 ha | 10 |
| 2010s | 46,223 1000 ha | 45,838 1000 ha | 46,609 1000 ha | 10 |
| 2020s | 46,909 1000 ha | 46,695 1000 ha | 47,122 1000 ha | 6 |
Countries ranked near Southern Africa
More environment data for Southern Africa
- Agricultural land — Value of agricultural production (Int. $) per Area 152.42 USD_PPP/ha (2024)
- Nutrient potash K2O (total) — Use per capita 4.38 kg/cap (2024)
- Nutrient potash K2O (total) — Use per value of agricultural production 12.74 g/Int$ (2024)
- Country area — Area 267,335 1000 ha (2024)
- Land area — Area 265,067 1000 ha (2024)
- Agriculture — Area 165,032 1000 ha (2024)
- Agricultural land — Area 165,032 1000 ha (2024)
- Agricultural land — Share in Land area 62.26 % (2024)
- Arable land — Share in Agricultural land 8.37 % (2024)
- Arable land — Area 13,812 1000 ha (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is forest land — area in Southern Africa?
- Forest land — area in Southern Africa was 47,122 1000 ha in 2025, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
- What is the highest forest land — area recorded in Southern Africa?
- The highest recorded value was 47,122 1000 ha in 2025.
- What is the lowest forest land — area recorded in Southern Africa?
- The lowest recorded value was 44,834 1000 ha in 1990.
- How does Southern Africa rank for forest land — area?
- Southern Africa ranks 28th out of 36 groups with data for 2025.
- Is forest land — area rising or falling in Southern Africa?
- Over the last ten years it is up 1.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Southern 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
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.