Tree-covered areas — Area from CCI_LC in South Africa
South Africa: Tree-covered areas — Area from CCI_LC was 8,362 1000 ha in 2022. ▼ Falling
Tree-covered areas — Area from CCI_LC in South Africa, 1992–2022
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in 1000 ha.
Analysis
In 2022, tree-covered areas — area from cci_lc in South Africa stood at 8,362 1000 ha.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 0.2% on the previous year and down 0.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, tree-covered areas — area from cci_lc in South Africa peaked at 9,956 1000 ha in 1992 and was at its lowest, 8,345 1000 ha, in 2015.
South Africa ranks 53rd of 224 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 31 years of available data.
Tree-covered areas — Area from CCI_LC in South Africa, year by year
| Year | 1000 ha | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 9,956 1000 ha | — |
| 1993 | 9,956 1000 ha | -0.0% |
| 1994 | 9,956 1000 ha | -0.0% |
| 1995 | 9,893 1000 ha | -0.6% |
| 1996 | 9,861 1000 ha | -0.3% |
| 1997 | 9,795 1000 ha | -0.7% |
| 1998 | 9,700 1000 ha | -1.0% |
| 1999 | 9,160 1000 ha | -5.6% |
| 2000 | 8,933 1000 ha | -2.5% |
| 2001 | 8,829 1000 ha | -1.2% |
| 2002 | 8,769 1000 ha | -0.7% |
| 2003 | 8,689 1000 ha | -0.9% |
| 2004 | 8,599 1000 ha | -1.0% |
| 2005 | 8,585 1000 ha | -0.2% |
| 2006 | 8,564 1000 ha | -0.2% |
| 2007 | 8,515 1000 ha | -0.6% |
| 2008 | 8,491 1000 ha | -0.3% |
| 2009 | 8,461 1000 ha | -0.4% |
| 2010 | 8,428 1000 ha | -0.4% |
| 2011 | 8,409 1000 ha | -0.2% |
| 2012 | 8,383 1000 ha | -0.3% |
| 2013 | 8,371 1000 ha | -0.1% |
| 2014 | 8,346 1000 ha | -0.3% |
| 2015 | 8,345 1000 ha | -0.0% |
| 2016 | 8,383 1000 ha | +0.5% |
| 2017 | 8,376 1000 ha | -0.1% |
| 2018 | 8,354 1000 ha | -0.3% |
| 2019 | 8,355 1000 ha | +0.0% |
| 2020 | 8,349 1000 ha | -0.1% |
| 2021 | 8,382 1000 ha | +0.4% |
| 2022 | 8,362 1000 ha | -0.2% |
South Africa compared with similar countries
- South Africa's 8,362 1000 ha is above the median for upper middle income countries, which is 2,359 1000 ha, 3.5× the median. (52 countries reporting)
- South Africa's 8,362 1000 ha is above the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 4,570 1000 ha, 1.8× the median. (44 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 9,785 1000 ha | 9,160 1000 ha | 9,956 1000 ha | 8 |
| 2000s | 8,644 1000 ha | 8,461 1000 ha | 8,933 1000 ha | 10 |
| 2010s | 8,375 1000 ha | 8,345 1000 ha | 8,428 1000 ha | 10 |
| 2020s | 8,364 1000 ha | 8,349 1000 ha | 8,382 1000 ha | 3 |
Countries ranked near South Africa
More environment data for South Africa
- Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly 5.46 Percentage change (2025)
- Historical exposure to drought — Cropland soil moisture anomaly 8.52 Percentage change (2025)
- Standard Deviation, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Standard Deviation 0.275 °C (2025)
- Temperature change 1.05 °C (2025)
- Wood-based panels — Production, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), annual 2.59 % change on previous year (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), per unit 0 Mt CO2e per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), per capita 0 Mt CO2e per person (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture (Mt CO2e), annual growth rate 0.2953 % change on previous year (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is tree-covered areas — area from cci_lc in South Africa?
- Tree-covered areas — area from cci_lc in South Africa was 8,362 1000 ha in 2022, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
- What is the highest tree-covered areas — area from cci_lc recorded in South Africa?
- The highest recorded value was 9,956 1000 ha in 1992.
- What is the lowest tree-covered areas — area from cci_lc recorded in South Africa?
- The lowest recorded value was 8,345 1000 ha in 2015.
- How does South Africa rank for tree-covered areas — area from cci_lc?
- South Africa ranks 53rd out of 224 countries with data for 2022.
- Is tree-covered areas — area from cci_lc rising or falling in South Africa?
- Over the last ten years it is down 0.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this South Africa data come from?
- The figures come from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, published as part of Tree-covered areas — Area from CCI_LC. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 31 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO).
About this data
The FAOSTAT domain on Land Cover data under the Agri-Environmental Indicators section contains land cover information organized by the land cover classes of the international standard system for Environmental and Economic Accounting Central Framework (SEEA CF). The land cover information is compiled from publicly available Global Land Cover (GLC) maps: a) MODIS land cover types based on the Land Cover Classification System, LCCS; b) The European Spatial Agency (ESA) Climate Change Initiative (CCI) annual land cover maps produced by the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL)-Geomatics and now under the European Copernicus Program; c) The annual land cover maps which were produced under the European Copernicus Global Land Service (CGLS) (CGLS land cover, containing discrete land cover categorization), with spatial resolution 100m; and d) the WorldCover maps of the European Space Agency, produced at 10m resolution.