All the facts
296 figures, each one with the year it refers to and a link to its source.
- NetherlandsCanopy
The Netherlands' forest area grew from about 345,000 hectares in 1990 to 368,000 hectares in 2022.
- New ZealandCanopy
Forest covers 38.4% of New Zealand, about 10.1 million hectares in 2022, up from 35.6% in 1990.
- New ZealandCanopy
New Zealand added about 728,000 hectares of forest between 1990 and 2022.
- PhilippinesCanopy
Forest covers 24.5% of the Philippines, about 7.3 million hectares in 2022.
- PhilippinesCanopy
The Philippines' forest area grew by about 472,000 hectares between 2010 and 2022, recovering part of the loss since 1990.
- PakistanCanopy
Forest covers only about 4.1% of Pakistan, roughly 3.1 million hectares in 2022, among the lowest shares in Asia.
- PakistanCanopy
Pakistan's forest area shrank by about 331,000 hectares between 1990 and 2022, from 4.5% to 4.1% of land.
- SenegalCanopy
Forest and wooded savanna cover about 45.2% of Senegal, roughly 8.7 million hectares in 2022, down from 47.8% in 1990.
- TürkiyeCanopy
Türkiye's forest cover rose from 25.7% of land in 1990 to 29.2% in 2022, about 22.5 million hectares.
- TürkiyeCanopy
Türkiye added about 2.7 million hectares of forest between 1990 and 2022 through afforestation and natural regrowth.
- United StatesAir
Trees in US urban areas alone removed about 651,000 tonnes of air pollution in 2010, worth $4.7 billion in avoided health costs.
- United StatesCanopy
The United States has about 5.5 billion urban trees, and tree canopy covers 39.4% of the nation's urban land.
- United StatesCanopy
US urban land is projected to grow by 95.5 million acres between 2010 and 2060, from 68.0 million to 163.1 million acres (8.6% of the country), putting more forest and farmland under pavement.
- United StatesCanopy
US urban and community tree cover fell by about 175,000 acres a year between roughly 2009 and 2014, a loss of some 36 million trees a year and $96 million a year in lost benefits, while impervious cover rose.
- United StatesCanopy
Urban land in the lower 48 states grew from 2.5% of the land area in 1990 to 3.1% in 2000 and is projected to reach 8.1% by 2050, an increase larger than Montana.
Nowak et al. 2010, Sustaining America's Urban Trees and Forests, USDA Forest Service GTR-NRS-62, 2010
- United StatesCarbon
Trees in US urban areas store about 643 million tonnes of carbon, valued at $50.5 billion, and sequester another 25.6 million tonnes a year worth $2.0 billion.
- United StatesCooling
US urban areas run about 1 to 7°F warmer than outlying areas during the day and 2 to 5°F warmer at night, and air-conditioning demand rises 1 to 9% for every 2°F of warming.
- United StatesCooling
Tree shade lowered wall and roof surface temperatures by 20 to 45°F in a multi-month EPA-cited study, and suburbs with mature trees are 4 to 6°F cooler than new suburbs without trees.
US EPA, Reducing Urban Heat Islands: Compendium of Strategies, Trees and Vegetation chapter, 2008
- United StatesMoney
US urban forests deliver about $18.3 billion a year in benefits: $5.4 billion from air pollution removal, $5.4 billion from reduced building energy use, $4.8 billion from carbon sequestration and $2.7 billion from avoided power-plant emissions.
- United StatesEnergy
Urban and community trees in the lower 48 states cut residential energy bills by about $7.8 billion a year ($4.7 billion in electricity, $3.1 billion in heating), a 7.2% reduction in residential energy use, plus $3.9 billion a year in avoided power-plant emissions.
- United StatesHealth
Trees and forests in the lower 48 states removed 17.4 million tonnes of air pollution in 2010, avoiding more than 850 deaths and 670,000 cases of acute respiratory symptoms, with health benefits valued at $6.8 billion.
- United StatesHealth
The CDC recorded an average of 702 heat-related deaths a year in the United States from 2004 to 2018.
- United StatesSurvival
A meta-analysis of US street tree studies found annual survival rates of 94.9% to 96.5%, meaning a planted street tree population loses half its trees in 13 to 20 years and a street tree's mean life expectancy is 19 to 28 years.
- United StatesSurvival
A review of 56 urban tree mortality studies found median annual mortality of 6.6% to 7% in the first five years after planting, and about 2.5% a year for established street trees across all study designs.
Hilbert et al. 2019, Urban Tree Mortality: A Literature Review, Arboriculture & Urban Forestry 45(5), 2019
- South AfricaCanopy
Forest covers 18.7% of South Africa, about 22.6 million hectares in 2022, up from 16.3% in 1990.
- South AfricaCanopy
South Africa's forest area grew by about 2.8 million hectares between 1990 and 2022.
- GlobalAir
Investing about US$4 per urban resident a year in street trees across 245 of the world's largest cities could save tens of thousands of lives a year through cleaner, cooler air.
- GlobalWildlife
At least 1.11 billion hectares of primary forest remained in 2020, 81 million hectares less than in 1990.
- GlobalWildlife
About 726 million hectares of forest were inside protected areas in 2020, 191 million hectares more than in 1990.
- GlobalWildlife
Forests are home to about 80% of amphibian species, 75% of bird species and 68% of mammal species, plus 60,082 known tree species.
- GlobalCanopy
The world had about 4.06 billion hectares of forest in 2020, nearly one-third of all land and about 0.52 hectares per person.
- GlobalCanopy
The world lost a net 4.7 million hectares of forest a year in 2010-2020, down from 7.8 million hectares a year in the 1990s.
- GlobalCanopy
About 10 million hectares of forest were cleared each year in 2015-2020, down from 12 million hectares a year in 2010-2015.
- GlobalCanopy
Forests are still being lost to deforestation at nearly 11 million hectares a year, while legally protected forests now cover one-fifth of all forest area (FRA 2025).
- GlobalCanopy
Tropical primary forest loss hit 6.7 million hectares in 2024, nearly double 2023 and equal to 18 soccer fields every minute.
World Resources Institute / Global Forest Watch (University of Maryland GLAD data), 2024
- GlobalCanopy
An estimated 420 million hectares of forest were converted to other land uses between 1990 and 2020.
- GlobalCanopy
Earth has about 3.04 trillion trees, over 15 billion are cut down each year, and the total has fallen roughly 46% since the start of human civilization.
Crowther et al. 2015, Nature, 'Mapping tree density at a global scale', 2015
- GlobalCarbon
For the first time on record, fire was the leading cause of tropical primary forest loss in 2024 (nearly 50% of it), and forest fires worldwide emitted 4.1 gigatonnes of greenhouse gases.
- GlobalCarbon
The world's forests absorbed a steady 3.5 billion tonnes of carbon a year in the 2010s, equal to almost half of fossil-fuel emissions.
Pan et al. 2024, Nature, 'The enduring world forest carbon sink', 2024
- GlobalCarbon
Tropical deforestation released 2.2 billion tonnes of carbon a year in 1990-2019, cancelling two-thirds of the benefit of the global forest carbon sink.
Pan et al. 2024, Nature, 2024
- GlobalCarbon
Between 2001 and 2019 the world's forests were a net sink of 7.6 billion tonnes of CO2-equivalent a year: 15.6 billion tonnes removed minus 8.1 billion tonnes emitted from deforestation and disturbance.
- GlobalCarbon
Bastin et al. estimated room for 0.9 billion hectares of extra tree canopy outside farms and cities, which could store 205 gigatonnes of carbon.
Bastin et al. 2019, Science, 'The global tree restoration potential', 2019
- GlobalCarbon
Veldman et al. argued the 205-gigatonne restoration estimate was about five times too large because it inflated soil carbon gains, ignored warming from high-latitude trees and counted afforesting grasslands and savannas as restoration.
Veldman et al. 2019, Science, comment on 'The global tree restoration potential', 2019
- GlobalCarbon
Mangroves store on average 1,023 tonnes of carbon per hectare, 49-98% of it in deep soils, making them among the most carbon-rich forests in the tropics.
- GlobalCarbon
About 15 million hectares of mangroves remain worldwide, storing 21 billion tonnes of CO2, and mangrove loss fell 44% between 2000 and 2020.
Global Mangrove Alliance, 2024
- GlobalCooling
Across 293 European cities, land under urban trees is 8-12°C cooler than built-up land in Central Europe and 0-4°C cooler in Southern Europe in summer.
- GlobalCooling
Treeless green spaces such as lawns cool cities 2-4 times less than urban trees do.
- GlobalFood
A meta-analysis found maize yields 150% higher and sorghum 73% higher under Faidherbia albida canopies than in the open, with soil carbon up 46%.
Sileshi 2016, Journal of Arid Environments (meta-analysis of Faidherbia albida), 2016
- GlobalFood
In Zambia, maize grown under 8- to 22-year-old Faidherbia trees yielded 7-12 times more than maize outside the canopy, with the biggest gap in the driest year.
- GlobalHealth
Urban heat islands caused about 6,700 premature deaths across 93 European cities in summer 2015, 4.3% of all summer deaths.
- GlobalHealth
Raising tree cover to 30% in 93 European cities would cool them by an average 0.4°C and prevent about 2,644 premature deaths a summer, one-third of heat-island deaths.
- GlobalSurvival
Across 56 studies, newly planted urban tree cohorts lose a median 4.4-6.5% of trees a year, with mortality highest in the first five years after planting.
Hilbert et al. 2019, Arboriculture & Urban Forestry, 'Urban Tree Mortality: A Literature Review', 2019
- GlobalSurvival
A meta-analysis of 16 street tree studies found annual survival of 94.9-96.5%, meaning half of a planting cohort is dead within 13-20 years.
- GlobalWater
Mangroves prevent more than US$65 billion in flood damage a year, and 15 million more people would be flooded annually if they were lost.
- GlobalWater
Over more than 60% of tropical land, air that has passed over extensive forest in the previous days produces at least twice as much rain as air that passed over little vegetation.
- GlobalWater
One-third of Amazon rainfall originates within the basin itself, and two-thirds of that water was transpired by the forest's own trees.