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 25th out of 29 groups 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.

Tree-covered areas — Area from MODIS in South Africa

Name: Tree-covered areas — Area from MODIS in South Africa
Creator: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
License: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO)

South Africa: Tree-covered areas — Area from MODIS was 9,409 1000 ha in 2024. ▲ Rising

Latest (2024)

9,409 1000 ha

Change on year

down 0.3%

Rank

25th

of 29 groups

All-time high

9,438 1000 ha

in 2023

All-time low

7,316 1000 ha

in 2005

Years of data

2001–2024

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 25th out of 29 groups with data for 2024, putting it in the bottom quarter.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 24 years of available data.

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

22 United Republic of Tanzania 46,236 1000 ha compare
23 Papua New Guinea 43,688 1000 ha compare
24 Cameroon 37,924 1000 ha compare
25 South Sudan 37,531 1000 ha compare
26 Sweden 35,828 1000 ha compare
27 Sudan (former) 33,352 1000 ha compare
28 Paraguay 30,765 1000 ha compare

See the full ranking of 269 places →

More environment data for South Africa

Standard Deviation 0.275 °C (2025)
Temperature change 1.05 °C (2025)
Recovered paper — Production 1.18 million t (2024)
Total fibre furnish — Production 2.03 million t (2024)
Other paper and paperboard, not elsewhere specified — Import value 30,837 1000 USD (2024)
Other paper and paperboard, not elsewhere specified — Import quantity 7,586 t (2024)
Other paper and paperboard — Export value 272,220 1000 USD (2024)
Other paper and paperboard — Export quantity 385,631 t (2024)
Other paper and paperboard — Import value 516,696 1000 USD (2024)
Other paper and paperboard — Import quantity 472,308 t (2024)

All data for South Africa →

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 25th out of 29 groups 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

Indicator: Tree-covered areas — Area from MODIS
Unit: 1000 ha
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO)
Coverage: 269 places, 6,390 data points, 2001–2024
Last refreshed: 12 August 2026

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.