Share of global forest area in China
China: Share of global forest area was 5.5% in 2025. ▲ Rising
Share of global forest area in China, 1990–2025
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
The most recent figure for share of global forest area in China is 5.5%, measured in 2025. That is the highest value across all 36 years on record.
That represents a change of up 0.8% on the previous year and up 9.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of global forest area in China peaked at 5.5% in 2025 and was at its lowest, 3.6%, in 1990.
China ranks 5th of 235 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 36 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 3.9% | 3.6% | 4.1% | 10 |
| 2000s | 4.4% | 4.2% | 4.7% | 10 |
| 2010s | 5.0% | 4.8% | 5.2% | 10 |
| 2020s | 5.4% | 5.3% | 5.5% | 6 |
Countries ranked near China
More environment data for China
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF 15,536 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF per capita 11.03 t CO2e/capita (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture 498.98 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Building (Energy) 32.75 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Fugitive Emissions (Energy) 736.76 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Industrial Combustion (Energy) 3.9 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF 1,485 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Power Industry (Energy) 4.13 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Transport (Energy) 5.54 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Waste 195.67 Mt CO2e (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of global forest area in China?
- Share of global forest area in China was 5.5% in 2025, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest share of global forest area recorded in China?
- The highest recorded value was 5.5% in 2025.
- What is the lowest share of global forest area recorded in China?
- The lowest recorded value was 3.6% in 1990.
- How does China rank for share of global forest area?
- China ranks 5th out of 235 countries with data for 2025.
- Is share of global forest area rising or falling in China?
- Over the last ten years it is up 9.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this China data come from?
- The figures come from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Share of global forest area. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 36 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Share of global forest area represents the proportion of a country's forest area relative to the total global forest area.