Tree-covered areas — Area from MODIS in South Africa
South Africa: Tree-covered areas — Area from MODIS was 9,409 1000 ha in 2024. ▲ Rising
Tree-covered areas — Area from MODIS in South Africa, 2001–2024
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in 1000 ha.
Analysis
The most recent figure for tree-covered areas — area from modis in South Africa is 9,409 1000 ha, measured in 2024.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 0.3% on the previous year and up 4.0% over ten years.
Over the whole period, tree-covered areas — area from modis in South Africa peaked at 9,438 1000 ha in 2023 and was at its lowest, 7,316 1000 ha, in 2005.
That places South Africa 57th out of 223 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 24 years of available data.
Tree-covered areas — Area from MODIS in South Africa, year by year
| Year | 1000 ha | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 9,233 1000 ha | — |
| 2002 | 8,333 1000 ha | -9.7% |
| 2003 | 7,662 1000 ha | -8.0% |
| 2004 | 7,623 1000 ha | -0.5% |
| 2005 | 7,316 1000 ha | -4.0% |
| 2006 | 7,799 1000 ha | +6.6% |
| 2007 | 7,523 1000 ha | -3.5% |
| 2008 | 7,568 1000 ha | +0.6% |
| 2009 | 7,910 1000 ha | +4.5% |
| 2010 | 7,926 1000 ha | +0.2% |
| 2011 | 8,605 1000 ha | +8.6% |
| 2012 | 8,937 1000 ha | +3.9% |
| 2013 | 9,157 1000 ha | +2.5% |
| 2014 | 9,046 1000 ha | -1.2% |
| 2015 | 8,531 1000 ha | -5.7% |
| 2016 | 8,080 1000 ha | -5.3% |
| 2017 | 8,028 1000 ha | -0.7% |
| 2018 | 8,230 1000 ha | +2.5% |
| 2019 | 8,165 1000 ha | -0.8% |
| 2020 | 8,074 1000 ha | -1.1% |
| 2021 | 8,269 1000 ha | +2.4% |
| 2022 | 9,005 1000 ha | +8.9% |
| 2023 | 9,438 1000 ha | +4.8% |
| 2024 | 9,409 1000 ha | -0.3% |
South Africa compared with similar countries
- South Africa's 9,409 1000 ha is above the median for upper middle income countries, which is 2,768 1000 ha, 3.4× the median. (52 countries reporting)
- South Africa's 9,409 1000 ha is above the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 2,469 1000 ha, 3.8× the median. (44 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 7,885 1000 ha | 7,316 1000 ha | 9,233 1000 ha | 9 |
| 2010s | 8,470 1000 ha | 7,926 1000 ha | 9,157 1000 ha | 10 |
| 2020s | 8,839 1000 ha | 8,074 1000 ha | 9,438 1000 ha | 5 |
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 modis in South Africa?
- Tree-covered areas — area from modis in South Africa was 9,409 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 South Africa?
- The highest recorded value was 9,438 1000 ha in 2023.
- What is the lowest tree-covered areas — area from modis recorded in South Africa?
- The lowest recorded value was 7,316 1000 ha in 2005.
- How does South Africa rank for tree-covered areas — area from modis?
- South Africa ranks 57th out of 223 countries with data for 2024.
- Is tree-covered areas — area from modis rising or falling in South Africa?
- Over the last ten years it is up 4.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- 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 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.