Forest Area by Country, Historical Data 1990-2023

About This Dataset

Forest as a percentage of total land area in twelve countries at benchmark years from 1990 to 2023, from World Bank Open Data, which publishes the FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment. Russia has no 1990 entry in this series. The measure is share of land area, so a country can lose forest and still rank highly.

✨ AI Insight

Indonesia has lost the most ground, falling from 65.44 percent of its land area in 1990 to 47.72 in 2023, a loss of 17.72 points, and the fall has continued in every benchmark year without exception. DR Congo is down 12.25 points and Brazil 11.48, from 70.46 percent to 58.98. Nigeria has lost 5.91 points from a much lower base and is now at 23.21 percent. The gains are smaller but not trivial: China added 7.29 points, from 16.74 percent to 24.03, the largest increase here, which leaves it just behind India on 24.54 after a gain of 3.04 points. The rich forested countries barely move at all, which is the quiet finding of the chart: Sweden, Japan and Canada have each changed by less than a point across thirty-three years, and the United States by less than one point.

Source: World Bank Open Data (FAO)

Key Findings

Auto-computed highlights from this dataset

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Sweden leads with 69 in 2023.

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China grew fastest: +43.5% from 1990 to 2023 (16.74 → 24.03).

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Indonesia declined most: -27.1% from 1990 to 2023 (65.44 → 47.72).

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Average value in 2023: 43 · median: 44.

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1995 recorded the highest combined total across all categories.

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Gap in 2023: Sweden is 3.9× larger than Australia.