Forest area in North America

Forests covered 36.6% of the land area of North America in 2023.

Measure: Forest area as a share of land area Unit: % of land area Data: 1990 to 2023 Source: World Bank
North America is a group: World Bank region. The value is the aggregate published by World Bank, not an average calculated on this site.
North America, 2023 36.6% % of land area
Change from 2022 0percentage points 2022: 36.6%
World, 2023 31.1% Official aggregate

Forest area in North America over time

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North America World ×

% of land area. Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators. Gaps mean no published value; points are not joined across missing years.

Forest area as a share of land area (% of land area), 2000 to 2023
Period North AmericaWorld
2023 36.6% 31.1%
2022 36.6% 31.1%
2021 36.6% 31.2%
2020 36.3% 31.2%
2019 36.3% 31.2%
2018 36.3% 31.3%
2017 36.3% 31.3%
2016 36.3% 31.3%
2015 36.3% 31.4%
2014 36.3% 31.4%
2013 36.3% 31.4%
2012 36.2% 31.5%
2011 36.2% 31.9%
2010 36.2% 31.9%
2009 36.2% 32.0%
2008 36.2% 32.0%
2007 36.1% 32.1%
2006 36.1% 32.1%
2005 36.1% 32.1%
2004 36.0% 32.2%
2003 36.0% 32.3%
2002 36.0% 32.3%
2001 36.0% 32.3%
2000 35.9% 32.4%

A dash means no value was published for that period.

In short

  • That is a change of 0 percentage points from 36.6% in 2022.
  • Since 2013, when it was 36.3%, the figure has changed by +0.4 percentage points.
  • The figure for the world in 2023 was 31.1%.

More for North America

All statistics for North America

Source and dates

Original producer
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Distributed by
World Bank, World Development Indicators
Dataset or series code
AG.LND.FRST.ZS · dataset details · view at source
Observation period
1990 to 2023 for North America
Provider update
8 October 2026
Retrieved
9 November 2026
Published here
9 November 2026
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (per series metadata)
Attribution
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators, original data: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)