Forest land — Share in Land area in Southern Africa
Southern Africa: Forest land — Share in Land area was 17.75 % in 2024. ▲ Rising
Forest land — Share in Land area in Southern Africa, 1990–2024
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in %.
Analysis
In 2024, forest land — share in land area in Southern Africa stood at 17.75 %. That is the highest value across all 35 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 0.2% on the previous year and up 1.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, forest land — share in land area in Southern Africa peaked at 17.75 % in 2024 and was at its lowest, 16.91 %, in 1990.
That places Southern Africa 37th out of 47 groups with data for 2024, putting it in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 35 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 16.94 % | 16.91 % | 16.97 % | 10 |
| 2000s | 17.12 % | 16.97 % | 17.26 % | 10 |
| 2010s | 17.44 % | 17.29 % | 17.58 % | 10 |
| 2020s | 17.68 % | 17.62 % | 17.75 % | 5 |
Countries ranked near Southern Africa
More environment data for Southern Africa
- Standard Deviation, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly 4.17 Percentage change (2025)
- Historical exposure to drought — Cropland soil moisture anomaly 7.61 Percentage change (2025)
- Temperature change 0.892 °C (2025)
- Standard Deviation 0.282 °C (2025)
- Wood fuel, coniferous — Production 770,000 m3 (2024)
- Industrial roundwood — Export quantity 427,327 m3 (2024)
- Industrial roundwood — Import value 35,013 1000 USD (2024)
- Industrial roundwood — Import quantity 161,260 m3 (2024)
- Industrial roundwood — Production 17.26 million m3 (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is forest land — share in land area in Southern Africa?
- Forest land — share in land area in Southern Africa was 17.75 % in 2024, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
- What is the highest forest land — share in land area recorded in Southern Africa?
- The highest recorded value was 17.75 % in 2024.
- What is the lowest forest land — share in land area recorded in Southern Africa?
- The lowest recorded value was 16.91 % in 1990.
- How does Southern Africa rank for forest land — share in land area?
- Southern Africa ranks 37th out of 47 groups with data for 2024.
- Is forest land — share in 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 — Share in Land area. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 35 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.