Most Forest: Forest Area (sq km) (2000 – 2024)
From our Short: Which Country Grew Its Forest 1.3x Since 2000? Top 10 Most Forest Race 2000-2024
China's forest area grew 1.3x since 2000, from 1.77M to 2.26M km², while #2 Brazil lost about 714K km² (-12.7%).
Which Country Grew Its Forest 1.3x Since 2000? Top 10 Most Forest Race 2000-2024
Full ranking
| # | Name | 2000 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Russia | 8.12M km² | 8.32M km² |
| 2 | Brazil | 5.61M km² | 4.89M km² |
| 3 | Canada | 3.60M km² | 3.69M km² |
| 4 | United States | 3.04M km² | 3.09M km² |
| 5 | China | 1.77M km² | 2.26M km² |
| 6 | DR Congo | 1.54M km² | 1.39M km² |
| 7 | Australia | 1.33M km² | 1.34M km² |
| 8 | Indonesia | 919.59K km² | 958.88K km² |
| 9 | India | 675.91K km² | 726.53K km² |
| 10 | Peru | 740.45K km² | 674.59K km² |
Key numbers
- In 2024, #1 is Russia at 8.32M km², ahead of Brazil (4.89M km²).
- Russia was already #1 in 2000, at 8.12M km².
- The biggest rise in today's top 10: China, from 1.77M km² in 2000 to 2.26M km² in 2024 (1.3x).
The top 3 were Russia, Brazil and Canada in both 2000 and 2024. Russia has 1.7x the forest of #2 Brazil.
Data: World Bank (Forest area, sq. km, 2000-2024), CC BY 4.0; underlying source FAO (FAOSTAT). Aggregates excluded. Values are rounded. The intro background was generated with AI. Flag graphics: Twemoji (CC BY 4.0).
Questions
Who was #1 in 2024?
Russia, at 8.32M km². #2 is Brazil at 4.89M km².
Where does this data come from?
World Bank / FAO (CC BY 4.0). The data was downloaded twice and both reads had to match; the numbers here are computed from it by script.
How we made this
Source: World Bank / FAO (CC BY 4.0) · 2000-2024The data was downloaded twice and both reads had to match. Figures are computed from it by script and rounded for display. Watch the Short on YouTube.