2026-09-24 · percent of global forest area
Half the world's forests are in five countries
Russia, Brazil, Canada, US, and China hold massive boreal and tropical blocks.
Five countries hold half the world's forests. Russia, Brazil, Canada, the United States, and China together account for 54% of global forest area, per FAO's Global Forest Resources Assessment 2025 — so a handful of governments steer the fate of the planet's biggest carbon stores and wildlife strongholds. The remaining 46% spreads across Asia and the Pacific (23.9%), Africa (12.9%), and the rest of the Americas (9.2%).
1 cell = 0.1 percent of global forest area (0.1% of forest area) · 1,000 cells
Context
The shares come from FAO's Global Forest Resources Assessment 2025, the only worldwide forest assessment built on official national data. It draws on a network of officially nominated national correspondents covering 194 countries and areas.
Concentration gives five governments outsized leverage over forests that anchor global climate and biodiversity goals, with boreal Russia and Canada and tropical Brazil anchoring the top five. FAO is currently leading an international effort to define 'forest degradation,' a step toward better monitoring of these remaining forest blocks.
FRA data also feed UN Sustainable Development Goal indicators 15.1.1 (forest area as a proportion of total land area) and 15.2.1 (progress toward sustainable forest management). A new FAO reporting process will let countries update key forest figures more frequently.
FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment shares.
Share and export
Credit this grid as Inagrid — https://inagrid.com/e/2026-09-24-forest-area