Tree-covered areas — Area from MODIS in Malawi
Malawi: Tree-covered areas — Area from MODIS was 2,918 1000 ha in 2024. ▼ Falling
Tree-covered areas — Area from MODIS in Malawi, 2001–2024
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in 1000 ha.
Analysis
Malawi recorded 2,918 1000 ha for tree-covered areas — area from modis in 2024. That is the lowest value across all 24 years on record.
That represents a change of down 0.8% on the previous year and down 15.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, tree-covered areas — area from modis in Malawi peaked at 4,113 1000 ha in 2001 and was at its lowest, 2,918 1000 ha, in 2024.
Malawi ranks 89th of 223 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 24 years of available data.
Tree-covered areas — Area from MODIS in Malawi, year by year
| Year | 1000 ha | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 4,113 1000 ha | — |
| 2002 | 4,025 1000 ha | -2.1% |
| 2003 | 3,996 1000 ha | -0.7% |
| 2004 | 3,816 1000 ha | -4.5% |
| 2005 | 3,559 1000 ha | -6.7% |
| 2006 | 3,531 1000 ha | -0.8% |
| 2007 | 3,638 1000 ha | +3.0% |
| 2008 | 3,525 1000 ha | -3.1% |
| 2009 | 3,518 1000 ha | -0.2% |
| 2010 | 3,515 1000 ha | -0.1% |
| 2011 | 3,442 1000 ha | -2.1% |
| 2012 | 3,484 1000 ha | +1.2% |
| 2013 | 3,436 1000 ha | -1.4% |
| 2014 | 3,450 1000 ha | +0.4% |
| 2015 | 3,364 1000 ha | -2.5% |
| 2016 | 3,257 1000 ha | -3.2% |
| 2017 | 3,276 1000 ha | +0.6% |
| 2018 | 3,254 1000 ha | -0.7% |
| 2019 | 3,217 1000 ha | -1.1% |
| 2020 | 3,104 1000 ha | -3.5% |
| 2021 | 3,031 1000 ha | -2.3% |
| 2022 | 2,976 1000 ha | -1.8% |
| 2023 | 2,940 1000 ha | -1.2% |
| 2024 | 2,918 1000 ha | -0.8% |
Malawi compared with similar countries
- Malawi's 2,918 1000 ha is above the median for low income countries, which is 1,595 1000 ha, 1.8× the median. (22 countries reporting)
- Malawi's 2,918 1000 ha is above the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 2,469 1000 ha, 1.2× the median. (44 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 3,747 1000 ha | 3,518 1000 ha | 4,113 1000 ha | 9 |
| 2010s | 3,369 1000 ha | 3,217 1000 ha | 3,515 1000 ha | 10 |
| 2020s | 2,994 1000 ha | 2,918 1000 ha | 3,104 1000 ha | 5 |
Countries ranked near Malawi
- 86 Bhutan 3,076 1000 ha compare
- 87 Lithuania 3,026 1000 ha compare
- 88 Kazakhstan 2,924 1000 ha compare
- 90 Guinea-Bissau 2,772 1000 ha compare
- 91 Slovakia 2,752 1000 ha compare
- 92 Equatorial Guinea 2,612 1000 ha compare
More environment data for Malawi
- Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly -0.9153 Percentage change (2025)
- Historical exposure to drought — Cropland soil moisture anomaly -0.8098 Percentage change (2025)
- Standard Deviation, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Standard Deviation 0.254 °C (2025)
- Temperature change 1.07 °C (2025)
- Wood-based panels — Production, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), annual 3.65 % 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 5.3 % change on previous year (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is tree-covered areas — area from modis in Malawi?
- Tree-covered areas — area from modis in Malawi was 2,918 1000 ha in 2024, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
- What is the highest tree-covered areas — area from modis recorded in Malawi?
- The highest recorded value was 4,113 1000 ha in 2001.
- What is the lowest tree-covered areas — area from modis recorded in Malawi?
- The lowest recorded value was 2,918 1000 ha in 2024.
- How does Malawi rank for tree-covered areas — area from modis?
- Malawi ranks 89th out of 223 countries with data for 2024.
- Is tree-covered areas — area from modis rising or falling in Malawi?
- Over the last ten years it is down 15.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Malawi data come from?
- The figures come from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, published as part of Tree-covered areas — Area from MODIS. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 24 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.