Imported deforestation in Ghana

Ghana: Imported deforestation was 4,734 hectares in 2023. ▲ Rising

Latest (2023)
4,734 hectares
Change on year
up 4.7%
World rank
50th
of 178 countries
All-time high
4,929 hectares
in 2019
All-time low
2,364 hectares
in 2009
Years of data
19
2005–2023

Imported deforestation in Ghana, 2005–2023

01.0k2.0k3.0k4.0k5.0k2005201420232005: 2.5k hectares2006: 2.4k hectares2007: 2.6k hectares2008: 2.7k hectares2009: 2.4k hectares2010: 2.9k hectares2011: 3.0k hectares2012: 3.5k hectares2013: 4.3k hectares2014: 4.0k hectares2015: 4.3k hectares2016: 4.2k hectares2017: 4.9k hectares2018: 4.8k hectares2019: 4.9k hectares2020: 3.6k hectares2021: 4.7k hectares2022: 4.5k hectares2023: 4.7k hectares

Source: Singh et al. (2026) – processed by Our World in Data. Measured in hectares.

Analysis

Ghana recorded 4,734 hectares for imported deforestation in 2023.

That represents a change of up 4.7% on the previous year and up 10.7% over ten years.

Over the whole period, imported deforestation in Ghana peaked at 4,929 hectares in 2019 and was at its lowest, 2,364 hectares, in 2009.

That places Ghana 50th out of 178 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the middle of the range.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 19 years of available data.

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
2000s 2,510 hectares 2,364 hectares 2,653 hectares 5
2010s 4,077 hectares 2,873 hectares 4,929 hectares 10
2020s 4,369 hectares 3,568 hectares 4,734 hectares 4

Countries ranked near Ghana

  1. 47 Kenya 5,105 hectares compare
  2. 48 Guatemala 4,818 hectares compare
  3. 49 Dominican Republic 4,748 hectares compare
  4. 51 Sri Lanka 4,597 hectares compare
  5. 52 Uruguay 4,288 hectares compare
  6. 53 Norway 4,275 hectares compare

See the full ranking of 178 places →

More environment data for Ghana

All data for Ghana →

Frequently asked questions

What is imported deforestation in Ghana?
Imported deforestation in Ghana was 4,734 hectares in 2023, according to Singh et al. (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
What is the highest imported deforestation recorded in Ghana?
The highest recorded value was 4,929 hectares in 2019.
What is the lowest imported deforestation recorded in Ghana?
The lowest recorded value was 2,364 hectares in 2009.
How does Ghana rank for imported deforestation?
Ghana ranks 50th out of 178 countries with data for 2023.
Is imported deforestation rising or falling in Ghana?
Over the last ten years it is up 10.7%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Ghana data come from?
The figures come from Singh et al. (2026) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Imported deforestation. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 19 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).

About this data

Indicator
Imported deforestation
Unit
hectares
Source
Singh et al. (2026) – processed by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
178 places, 3,320 data points, 2005–2023
Last refreshed

Imported deforestation is the amount of deforestation in other countries that is driven by the production of food and forestry products that are imported. This is measured in hectares.