Global Forest Cover Accounts for 32% of Total Land Area

In a recently released Global Forest Resources Assessment (GFRA) by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the world’s total forest area is approximately 4.14 billion hectares, accounting for about 32% of total land area, or roughly 0.5 hectares of forest per person. 

FAO is a specialised agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve sustainable management of natural resources, including forests. The GFRA is FAO’s periodic assessment of the state of the world’s forests, providing comprehensive data on forest area, change, management, and use.

The Global Forest Resources Assessment is the only worldwide assessment based on official national data. FRA identifies two broad categories of forest: naturally regenerating and planted.

Within these broad categories, it identifies primary forests — those with only native species — as a subcategory of naturally regenerating forests. Under the subcategory of planted forests, it identifies plantation forests (e.g., rubber) and other planted forests (forests grown but not meeting the criteria for a plantation).

Highlights of the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2025

GFRA 2025 highlights that over 90% of global forests are naturally regenerating, with primary forests accounting for nearly one-third of the total area. The area of planted forests continues to expand, but the rate of expansion has slowed.

More than half (~54 per cent) of the world’s forests are in only five countries – the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, the United States of America and China. 

Here is the list of the top 10 countries by forest cover. 

Nearly half of the world’s forests are found in the tropics. Europe has the largest forest area, accounting for 25 per cent of the world’s total and South America, primarily because the Amazon has the highest forest cover, at 49 per cent of its total land area.

The assessment also pointed out that the world’s forests acted as a net carbon sink during the 2021–2025 period, sequestering 3.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (Gt CO2) annually on forest land.

The global deforestation rate has slowed significantly: annual loss declined to 10.9 million hectares (2015–2025) from 17.6 million hectares (1990–2000). However, forests are still being lost at a rate of nearly 11 million hectares per year.

During the 2021–2025 period, global emissions from net forest conversion (a proxy for deforestation) amounted to 2.8 Gt CO2, partially offsetting the forest sink effect.

As a result, forest carbon stocks increased overall, removing 0.8 Gt CO2 annually from the atmosphere during the 2021–2025 period. Such net removals were nearly twice as large (1.4 Gt CO2) a decade earlier.

Between 2021 and 2025, forest carbon sinks were strongest in Europe and Asia (removing 1.4 Gt CO2 and 0.9 Gt CO2 per year, respectively). Asia saw forest carbon removals increase to 0.9 Gt CO₂ per year in 2021–2025, with deforestation emissions dropping significantly.

The Global Forest Resources Assessment 2025 is the most authoritative and comprehensive, using official national data and standardised criteria to guide international forest policy, climate action, and conservation planning.

GFRA highlights the slowing rates of deforestation worldwide and the growth in global forest carbon stock. The forest cover data shows that the world is making measurable progress through reduced deforestation in some countries and the expansion of forest area in others.