Forests in the world and in Europe

Polish forest resources against the world's resources

The total area of ​​the world's forests is approximately 3,999,134 thousand ha. The average forest cover in countries around the world (in relation to land area) is approximately 30,6% (about 0.62 ha of forest per 1 person, ie. about 2.5 times higher than in Poland).

The countries with the largest forest area (as a percentage of total forest area of ​​the world) are: Russia (20%), Brazil (13%), Canada (9%), USA (7%) and China (5%). European Union countries with the forest area of about 161 million hectares constitute about 4% of the world's forests. Forest area in Poland is 9.435 million ha, which is 0.23% of the world's forests and about 6% of the forests of the European Union. 

Poland’s forest cover amounting to 30.8% (relative to land area) is similar to the average forest cover of the world (30,6%). Forest cover of our country is also close to the forest cover in Europe (excluding Russia) which is 32.2%. It is far lower than the forest cover of South America (49%), Europe including Russia (44,7%) and Central America (38%). Poland’s forest cover is, however, much higher than the forest cover of the whole of Africa (23%), Asia (19%) and Oceania (23%).