The Most Forested Countries in The World (by total % of land)

Larch Forest on Mount Skarbin in Carinthia, Austria (image: Johann Jaritz)

This is a list of Global nations, listed by the percentage of land (%) forested, in 2010, the latest data available.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) state that they put together this dataset approximately every 5 to 10 years, so it is unclear as to when a new dataset will be released.

Please note – the following table is best viewed on tablets or full-sized screens. It may not be 100% viewable on some mobile devices due to its formatting, although if you rotate your mobile screen to view it horizontally, that may do the trick!

World Forestation Chart

	Country	Forest area (km2) [1]	% of Land Area Forested [1]
1	French Guiana	80,820	98
2	Suriname	147,580	95
3	Micronesia	640	92
4	American Samoa	180	89
5	Palau	400	88
6	Seychelles	410	88
7	Gabon	220,000	85
8	Pitcairn	40	83
9	Turks and Caicos Islands	340	80
10	Solomon Islands	22,130	79
11	Guyana	152,050	77
12	Saint Lucia	470	77
13	Finland	221,570	73
14	Brunei	3,800	72
15	Guinea-Bissau	20,220	72
16	Niue	190	72
17	Marshall Islands	130	70
18	Bhutan	32,490	69
19	Japan	249,790	69
20	Sweden	282,030	69
21	DR Congo	1,541,350	68
22	Laos	157,510	68
23	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	270	68
24	Zambia	494,680	67
25	Republic of Congo	224,110	66
26	Northern Mariana Islands	300	66
27	Cook Islands	160	65
28	South Korea	62,220	63
29	Papua New Guinea	287,260	63
30	Brazil	5,195,220	62
31	Malaysia	204,560	62
32	Puerto Rico	5,520	62
33	Slovenia	12,530	62
34	Belize	13,930	61
35	Anguilla	60	60
36	Dominica	450	60
37	Samoa	1,710	60
38	Equatorial Guinea	16,260	58
39	United States Virgin Islands	200	58
40	Cambodia	100,940	57
41	Fiji	10,140	56
42	Colombia	604,990	55
43	Latvia	33,540	54
44	Bolivia	571,960	53
45	Peru	679,920	53
46	Estonia	22,170	52
47	Indonesia	944,320	52
48	Venezuela	462,750	52
49	Bahamas	5,150	51
50	Costa Rica	26,050	51
51	Cayman Islands	130	50
52	Grenada	170	50
53	Mozambique	390,220	50
54	East Timor	7,420	50
55	Russia	8,090,900	49
56	Gambia	4,800	48
57	Burma	317,730	48
58	Angola	584,800	47
59	Austria	38,870	47
60	Guam	260	47
61	North Korea	56,660	47
62	Honduras	51,920	46
63	Martinique	490	46
64	New Caledonia	8,390	46
65	Liberia	43,290	45
66	Panama	32,510	44
67	Paraguay	175,820	44
68	Senegal	84,730	44
69	Trinidad and Tobago	2,260	44
70	Vietnam	137,970	44
71	Bosnia and Herzegovina	21,850	43
72	Liechtenstein	70	43
73	Belarus	86,300	42
74	Cameroon	199,160	42
75	French Polynesia	1,550	42
76	Saint Kitts and Nevis	110	42
77	Wallis and Futuna Islands	60	42
78	Benin	45,610	41
79	Dominican Republic	19,720	41
80	Montenegro	5,430	40
81	Slovakia	19,330	40
82	Zimbabwe	156,240	40
83	Georgia	27,420	39
84	Guadeloupe	640	39
85	Macedonia	9,980	39
86	Portugal	34,560	38
87	Sierra Leone	27,260	38
88	Tanzania	334,280	38
89	Mayotte	140	37
90	Thailand	189,720	37
91	Andorra	160	36
92	Bulgaria	39,270	36
93	Central African Republic	226,050	36
94	Ecuador	98,650	36
95	Spain	181,730	36
96	Vanuatu	4,400	36
97	Réunion	880	35
98	Canada	3,101,340	34
99	Croatia	19,200	34
100	Czech Republic	26,570	34
101	Guatemala	36,570	34
102	Lithuania	21,600	34
103	Malawi	32,370	34
104	Ivory Coast	104,030	33
105	Luxembourg	870	33
106	Mexico	648,020	33
107	Norway	100,650	33
108	Swaziland	5,630	33
109	Tuvalu	10	33
110	United States	3,040,220	33
111	Germany	110,760	32
112	Italy	91,490	31
113	Jamaica	3,370	31
114	New Zealand	82,690	31
115	Serbia	27,130	31
116	Switzerland	12,400	31
117	Greece	39,030	30
118	Poland	93,370	30
119	France	159,540	29
120	Romania	65,730	29
121	Sri Lanka	18,600	29
122	Sudan	699,490	29
123	Albania	7,760	28
124	Sao Tome and Principe	270	28
125	Guinea	65,440	27
126	Cuba	28,700	26
127	Nicaragua	31,140	26
128	Philippines	76,650	26
129	Nepal	36,360	25
130	British Virgin Islands	40	24
131	Montserrat	30	24
132	Hungary	20,290	23
133	India	684,340	23
134	Antigua and Barbuda	100	22
135	Belgium	6,780	22
136	Chile	162,310	22
137	China	2,068,610	22
138	Ghana	49,400	22
139	Madagascar	125,530	22
140	Burkina Faso	56,490	21
141	Cape Verde	850	21
142	Bermuda	10	20
143	Botswana	113,510	20
144	Australia	1,493,000	19
145	Barbados	80	19
146	Republic of Cyprus	1,730	19
147	Rwanda	4,350	18
148	Mauritius	350	17
149	Ukraine	97,050	17
150	Eritrea	15,320	15
151	Kiribati	120	15
152	Turkey	113,340	15
153	Uganda	29,880	15
154	El Salvador	2,870	14
155	Denmark	5,440	13
156	Lebanon	1,370	13
157	Saint Pierre and Miquelon	30	13
158	Tonga	90	13
159	Norfolk Island	0	12
160	Moldova	3,860	12
161	United Kingdom	28,810	12
162	Argentina	294,000	11
163	Azerbaijan	9,360	11
164	Bangladesh	14,420	11
165	Ethiopia	122,960	11
166	Republic of Ireland	7,390	11
167	Morocco	51,310	11
168	Netherlands	3,650	11
169	Somalia	67,470	11
170	Mali	124,900	10
171	Nigeria	90,410	10
172	Uruguay	17,440	10
173	Armenia	2,620	9
174	Chad	115,250	9
175	Namibia	72,900	9
176	Turkmenistan	41,270	9
177	South Africa	92,410	8
178	Uzbekistan	32,760	8
179	Burundi	1,720	7
180	Iran	110,750	7
181	Israel	1,540	7
182	Mongolia	108,980	7
183	Isle of Man	30	6
184	Kenya	34,670	6
185	Saint Helena	20	6
186	Tunisia	10,060	6
187	Jersey	10	5
188	Kyrgyzstan	9,540	5
189	Togo	2,870	5
190	Haiti	1,010	4
191	United Arab Emirates	3,170	4
192	Guernsey	0	3
193	Maldives	10	3
194	Singapore	20	3
195	Syria	4,910	3
196	Tajikistan	4,100	3
197	Western Sahara	7,070	3
198	Afghanistan	13,500	2
199	Aruba	0	2
200	Comoros	30	2
201	Iraq	8,250	2
202	Occupied Palestinian Territory	90	2
203	Pakistan	16,870	2
204	Algeria	14,920	1
205	Bahrain	10	1
206	Jordan	980	1
207	Kazakhstan	33,090	1
208	Lesotho	440	1
209	Malta	0	1
210	Netherlands Antilles	10	1
211	Niger	12,040	1
212	Yemen	5,490	1
213	Saudi Arabia	9,770	0
214	Mauritania	2,420	0
215	Libya	2,170	0
216	Egypt	700	0
217	Iceland	300	0
218	Djibouti	60	0
219	Kuwait	60	0
220	Oman	20	0
221	Falkland Islands	0	0
222	Faeroe Islands	0	0
223	Gibraltar	0	0
224	Greenland	0	0
226	Monaco	0	0
227	Nauru	0	0
228	Qatar	0	0
229	San Marino	0	0
230	Tokelau	0	0
225	Vatican City	0	0

[1] “ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS: Forests” United Nations Statistics Division – Statistics compiled by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Last updated by the United Nations in December 2010, last retrieved by BlatantWorld.com on 21 January 2015.

Forest includes natural forests and forest plantations. It is used to refer to land with a tree canopy cover of more than 10 per cent and area of more than 0.5 ha. Forests are determined both by the presence of trees and the absence of other predominant land uses. The trees should be able to reach a minimum height of 5 m. Young stands that have not yet but are expected to reach a crown density of 10 percent and tree height of 5 m are included under forest, as are temporarily unstocked areas. The term includes forests used for purposes of production, protection, multiple-use or conservation (i.e. forest in national parks, nature reserves and other protected areas), as well as forests stands on agricultral lands (e.g. windbreaks and shelterbelts of trees with a width of more than 20 m), and rubberwood plantations and cork oak stands. The term specifically excludes stands of trees established primarily for agricultural production, for example fruit tree plantations. It also excludes trees planted in agroforestry systems.

Data Quality: Although there is an agreed and clear definition of forest, not all countries apply this definition. In many northern countries, areas with a crown cover of less than 20% are not considered as real forest land. ‘Temporarily unstocked areas’ refer to areas that have been designated as forest area, but not yet planted, or more often, areas where storm or fire has removed a large part of the forest cover. Unless aggressively restocked with trees, such areas can take a long time to re-establish forests naturally.

World Forestation Chart

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