Mapped: Countries With the Most Forest Area per Capita

Mapped: Countries With the Most Forest Area per Capita

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

The world’s forests are unevenly distributed, with countries like Canada and Russia containing hundreds of millions of hectares of forest area. But how that forest is shared among people varies dramatically around the globe.

In this graphic, we visualize each country’s forest area per capita, offering a unique perspective on the world’s tree coverage. While the average country has just 0.5 hectares of forest area per person, a select few boast significantly more.

Data & Discussion

The data for this visualization comes from the Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. It measures each country’s total forest area in hectares, which we combined with 2025 population estimates to determine forest area per capita.

A hectare is equal to 10,000 square meters, which is about the size of an international rugby field. In city terms, it’s roughly two and a half acres, or enough space for 16 single-family homes.

Rank	Country	Forest Area Per Capita (hectares)
1	Guyana	23.0
2	Suriname	22.3
3	Gabon	10.2
4	Canada	8.9
5	Central African Republic	8.2
6	Russian Federation	5.7
7	Botswana	5.7
8	Australia	4.8
9	Bolivia	4.4
10	Finland	4.0
11	Mongolia	4.0
12	Bhutan	3.4
13	Belize	3.2
14	Solomon Islands	3.2
15	Papua New Guinea	2.7
16	Namibia	2.6
17	Sweden	2.6
18	Vanuatu	2.5
19	Palau	2.3
20	Brazil	2.3
21	Norway	2.2
22	Zambia	2.1
23	Paraguay	2.1
24	Peru	2.0
25	New Zealand	1.9
26	Latvia	1.9
27	Estonia	1.8
28	Venezuela	1.8
29	Lao P.D.R.	1.7
30	Angola	1.6
31	Equatorial Guinea	1.5
32	Montenegro	1.3
33	DRC	1.3
34	Bahamas	1.2
35	Fiji	1.2
36	Colombia	1.1
37	Liberia	1.1
38	Guinea-Bissau	1.0
39	Panama	1.0
40	Belarus	1.0
41	Argentina	1.0
42	U.S.	0.9
43	Mozambique	0.9
44	Chile	0.9
45	Georgia	0.8
46	Brunei Darussalam	0.8
47	Zimbabwe	0.8
48	Lithuania	0.8
49	Dominica	0.8
50	Samoa	0.8
51	Timor-Leste	0.7
52	Nicaragua	0.7
53	Ecuador	0.7
54	Micronesia	0.7
55	Tanzania	0.6
56	Cameroon	0.6
57	Bulgaria	0.6
58	Bosnia & Herzegovina	0.6
59	Slovenia	0.6
60	Uruguay	0.6
61	North Macedonia	0.6
62	Malaysia	0.6
63	Costa Rica	0.6
64	Honduras	0.5
65	Serbia	0.5
66	World Average	0.5
67	Croatia	0.5
68	Mexico	0.5
69	Myanmar	0.5
70	Greece	0.5
71	Senegal	0.5
72	South Sudan	0.5
73	Sudan	0.4
74	Austria	0.4
75	Mali	0.4
76	Spain	0.4
77	Romania	0.4
78	Eswatini	0.4
79	Cambodia	0.4
80	Slovak Republic	0.4
81	South Africa	0.4
82	Albania	0.3
83	Turkmenistan	0.3
84	Indonesia	0.3
85	Madagascar	0.3
86	Portugal	0.3
87	Congo	0.3
88	Guinea	0.3
89	Ukraine	0.3
90	Somalia	0.3
91	Thailand	0.3
92	Sierra Leone	0.3
93	Czech Republic	0.3
94	Marshall Islands	0.3
95	Türkiye	0.3
96	Poland	0.3
97	Seychelles	0.3
98	France	0.3
99	Saint Vincent & the Grenadines	0.3
100	Ethiopia	0.2
101	Sao Tome and Principe	0.2
102	Jamaica	0.2
103	Mauritania	0.2
104	Hungary	0.2
105	Saint Kitts and Nevis	0.2
106	Nepal	0.2
107	Benin	0.2
108	Dominican Republic	0.2
109	Andorra	0.2
110	Japan	0.2
111	Ghana	0.2
112	Chad	0.2
113	Guatemala	0.2
114	Cyprus	0.2
115	Saint Lucia	0.2
116	Kyrgyz Republic	0.2
117	Kazakhstan	0.2
118	China	0.2
119	Italy	0.2
120	Trinidad and Tobago	0.2
121	Iceland	0.2
122	Republic of Moldova	0.2
123	Grenada	0.2
124	Ireland	0.2
125	Morocco	0.2
126	Liechtenstein	0.1
127	Vietnam	0.1
128	Switzerland	0.1
129	Puerto Rico	0.1
130	Germany	0.1
131	Burkina Faso	0.1
132	Luxembourg	0.1
133	Togo	0.1
134	Iran	0.1
135	South Korea	0.1
136	Azerbaijan	0.1
137	Côte d’Ivoire	0.1
138	Armenia	0.1
139	El Salvador	0.1
140	Denmark	0.1
141	Uzbekistan	0.1
142	Tuvalu	0.1
143	Cabo Verde	0.1
144	Tonga	0.1
145	Malawi	0.1
146	Saudi Arabia	0.1
147	Gambia	0.1
148	Antigua and Barbuda	0.1
149	Kenya	0.1
150	Nigeria	0.1
151	Philippines	0.1
152	Belgium	0.1
153	Tunisia	0.1
154	India	0.050
155	Uganda	0.049
156	UK	0.047
157	Rwanda	0.045
158	Tajikistan	0.041
159	Comoros	0.037
160	Niger	0.036
161	Algeria	0.036
162	Mauritius	0.030
163	Haiti	0.030
164	San Marino	0.029
165	Libya	0.029
166	UAE	0.029
167	Barbados	0.022
168	Netherlands	0.020
169	Burundi	0.019
170	Iraq	0.015
171	Israel	0.015
172	Lesotho	0.014
173	Pakistan	0.013
174	Yemen	0.013
175	Bangladesh	0.011
176	Maldives	0.009
177	Kiribati	0.008
178	Jordan	0.006
179	Djibouti	0.006
180	Aruba	0.004
181	Bahrain	0.003
182	Singapore	0.003
183	Kuwait	0.001
184	Malta	0.001
185	Qatar	0.000
186	Oman	0.000
187	Egypt	0.000
188	Nauru	0.000

The World’s Most Forested Countries

Guyana and Suriname are the two biggest outliers, each offering more than 22 hectares of forest area per person.

This is due to these countries’ vast rainforests combined with their relatively small populations (both under 1 million people). The forests in this region make up the Guiana Shield, one of the largest remaining blocks of primary tropical forest on earth.

Other countries that rank highly include Canada and Russia, two of the world’s largest countries by total area. While these countries have much bigger populations than #1 ranked Guyana, their sheer amount of forest land results in an above-average per capita figure.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Countries With the Most Freshwater Resources on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

• Source: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-countries-with-the-most-forest-area-per-capita/