Forests and Deforestation
How are forests distributed across the world? How much do we lose to deforestation every year?
Humans have been cutting down forests for millennia. The world has lost one-third of its forests since the end of the last ice age, 10,000 years ago. Half of this loss occurred in the last century alone.
The main driver of deforestation has been agriculture: humans clearing forests to make space for grazing and croplands.
Global deforestation rates are still very high. Most of it occurs in the tropics, where primary forests are rich in biodiversity. But global rates have also passed their peak: deforestation has reversed in many countries across temperate regions, and has slowed in many countries across the tropics.
Bringing deforestation to an end is essential to protecting the world’s biodiversity and tackling climate change.
On this page, you can find all of our data on forests and deforestation.
The world has lost one-third of its forests since the last ice age
Deforestation is not a particularly recent environmental problem.
Humans have been cutting down forests for millennia, either to use the wood as a resource or, more commonly, to clear land for agriculture.
In the chart, you can see how the Earth’s surface has changed over the last 10,000 years, roughly since the end of the last ice age.1 Here, we’re focusing on habitable land, so glaciers, deserts, salt flats, and dunes are not included.
10,000 years ago, most land was either forested or wild grassland and shrubbery. Since then, one-third of the world’s forests have been lost. That’s 2 billion hectares, or an area twice the size of the United States.
Half of this forest was lost by the year 1900. The other half has happened over the last century.
As you can see in the chart, this deforestation has been driven by the expansion of both cropland and pasture for livestock grazing. Urban and built-up land area is very small by comparison.
Global deforestation rates peaked in the 1980s and have fallen since then
The world has lost large areas of forest in recent centuries, particularly over the last 100 years.
But the peak of global deforestation was in the 1980s and early 1990s. Since then, rates have fallen (but remain high).
In the chart below, we’ve visualized global deforestation over the past three centuries.
This old historical data comes with significant uncertainty — and often doesn’t match the exact definition of deforestation used today, which is why we show a break in the time-series — but serves as the best estimates to get a sense of how large these losses were.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, most deforestation happened in temperate regions. Countries such as the US and many across Europe were deforesting rapidly. But this peaked in the first half of the 20th century, and today, many temperate countries are regrowing forests.
Tropical deforestation accelerated much later — mostly in the second half of the 20th century — but looks to have peaked in the 1980s. This also marks the global peak.
Recent data from the United Nations Global Forest Resources Assessment suggests that global forest loss has fallen in recent decades.
Most deforestation today takes place in the tropics
There is now a marked divide in where forests are being lost and where they are regrowing. You can see this in the map, which shows the estimated change in forest area.
Countries in green have afforestation or expansion rates that exceed deforestation (meaning there is a net gain in forest cover). Those in brown are, on net, losing forest.
Most of Europe and many parts of Asia are seeing gains in forest cover. Countries across the Americas, much of Africa, and parts of South-East Asia are still losing forests.
The world is still losing forests at a rate of around one Costa Rica per year
While deforestation rates may have passed their historical peak, the world is still losing large areas of forest each year.
Estimates on how much land is deforested each year vary across sources.
Work by Singh and Persson estimated that between 2001 and 2022, the global deforested area was approximately 211 million hectares (or an average of 10 million hectares per year).2 Around 7 million hectares of deforestation each year was caused by agriculture and forest plantations. But only 5.5 million hectares of this land actually went on to produce crops, livestock, or timber. The rest was cleared for farming or forestry but never became productive.
Figures from the UN’s Global Forest Resources Assessment tend to be higher. The UN does not produce annual estimates; instead, it publishes 5-year or 10-year averages. Its estimate for the average annual rate in the 2020s is around 8.5 million hectares.
Taking the lower figure of 5 million hectares, the world is losing an area the size of Costa Rica to deforestation each year. At 8 to 10 million hectares, it’s an area the size of Portugal.
What is driving deforestation?
Agriculture is the leading cause of deforestation overall. But what specific products are driving this?
The chart below summarizes the drivers of deforestation from 2001 to 2023.3
Beef production was, by far, the largest driver, accounting for more than 40% of the total. More than half of this occurred in Brazil, meaning Brazilian beef contributed one-quarter of global deforestation.
Oilseeds — dominated by soy and oil palm — were the second largest. Here, palm oil production in Indonesia made up the largest share.
This was followed by forest plantations — used for wood and paper products — and cereal production.
Here is the same data, but with each product broken down by the respective regions where this deforestation occurred.
How much of deforestation is caused by traded products?
Earlier, we saw a stark regional divide: most higher-income countries were regrowing forests, while low- and middle-income countries were still losing them. That is based on where deforestation is happening.
But countries can also contribute to deforestation through the products they import and consume. How much of an impact do these imports and exports have?
Researchers can try to estimate how much deforestation is embedded in traded products.3
Overall, around 70% of deforestation is driven by domestic demand for products. The remaining 30% is for traded products.
How does this balance look for high-income countries? In the chart below, we’ve split the world into two: high-income countries and low- and middle-income ones, based on their World Bank income group.
Within high-income countries, around 1 square meter of land is deforested per person per year for agricultural products. Outside these countries, it’s around seven times higher. This is shown on the left-hand side of the chart.
But what about deforestation caused by the products they consume? To understand this, we need consumption-based estimates that adjust for trade. These numbers are shown on the right. As we see, the gap mostly closes: contributions from rich countries rise fivefold, and their average deforestation demand is only 20% smaller than the average in the rest of the world.
Not all forest loss is deforestation
Two terms that are often used interchangeably, but have different meanings, are “tree cover loss” and “deforestation”.
Deforestation is the complete removal of trees. It results in a permanent conversion of forest into an alternative land use, such as agriculture, mining, or towns and cities. The trees are not expected to regrow.
Forest degradation measures a thinning of the canopy — a reduction in the density of trees — but without a change in land use. These changes to the forest are often temporary, and it’s expected that trees will regrow.
When researchers talk about “tree cover loss”, this includes both deforestation and degradation.
This matters for distinguishing the five reasons why we lose forests:
- Commodity-driven deforestation is the long-term, permanent conversion of forests to other land uses such as agriculture (including oil palm and cattle ranching), mining, or energy infrastructure.
- Urbanization is the long-term, permanent conversion of forests to towns, cities, and urban infrastructure such as roads.
- Shifting agriculture is the small- to medium-scale conversion of forest for farming, which is later abandoned so that forests regrow. This is common in local, subsistence farming systems where populations will clear forest, use it to grow crops, then move on to another plot of land.
- Forestry production is the logging of managed, planted forests for products such as timber, paper, and pulp. These forests are logged periodically and allowed to regrow.
- Wildfires destroy forests temporarily. When the land is not converted to a new use afterward, forests can regrow in the following years.
Commodity-driven deforestation and urbanization are deforestation: the forested land is completely cleared and converted into another land use.
Shifting agriculture is usually classified as degradation because the land is often abandoned and the forests regrow naturally. But it can bridge between deforestation and degradation depending on the timeframe and permanence of these agricultural practices.
Forestry production can be classified as degradation if the plantations are not replacing the native forest. But in some datasets, it is included as deforestation.
Finally, wildfires usually result in forest degradation; the forest experiences short-term disturbance, but if left alone, it is likely to regrow. The change is temporary.
Understanding the differences between deforestation and tree cover loss is important; figures on the latter tend to be higher, and shouldn’t be confused with the permanent conversion of forests.
Research & writing
February 19, 2021
Global deforestation peaked in the 1980s. Can we bring it to an end?
There was a marked acceleration in deforestation in the 20th century. But, global deforestation peaked in the 1980s. Since then, it has slowed.
February 9, 2021
The world has lost one-third of its forests, but an end to deforestation is possible
Over the last 10,000 years, the world has lost one-third of its forests — an area twice the size of the United States. Half of this loss occurred in the last century.
August 3, 2026
What has driven deforestation in the 21st century?
Agriculture has been the main driver of deforestation, but this has been concentrated in only a few commodities: mostly beef, palm oil, soy, and forestry products.
August 31, 2026
Beef production in Brazil has been the largest driver of global deforestation in recent decades
Most beef production in Brazil is to meet domestic rather than international demand.
More writing on deforestation
March 1, 2021
Do rich countries import deforestation from overseas?
February 6, 2021
Not all forest loss is equal: what is the difference between deforestation and forest degradation?
April 20, 2022
Humans destroyed forests for thousands of years — we can become the first generation that achieves a world in which forests expand
February 4, 2021
Palm Oil
Explore the data
Share of land covered by forest
One of the most basic indicators of land use is the amount of land area that is forested.
This chart shows estimates produced by the United Nations.
This ranges from less than 20% in countries such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Australia, and many parts of North Africa and the Middle East, up to more than 90% in places such as Gabon, Suriname, and Guyana.
Drivers of deforestation
What are the drivers of deforestation?
Agriculture and forest plantations are responsible for most of the world’s deforestation, and it’s these products that we focus on here.
In this chart, you can see estimates of deforestation driven by different products in recent decades.
From this data, we see that:
- Globally, beef production is the largest driver (and has been for this entire period).
- Deforestation for palm oil and soy was particularly high during the early 2000s and 2010s, but rates have fallen since then.
- In South America, beef production dominates deforestation trends.
- In North America and Europe, it has mostly been forestry products in recent decades.
- In Asia, palm oil dominated — primarily in Indonesia and Malaysia — but rates have fallen in recent years.
- Across Africa, deforestation rates are high, even for staple crops such as cereals, roots, and tubers.
Traded deforestation
Deforestation is usually tracked and reported in terms of where it takes place. Deforestation statistics usually tell us how much forest was cut down domestically in Brazil, Indonesia, or the UK.
But countries also contribute to deforestation through imported products. Understanding these trade flows is important to developing effective policies or interventions to reduce deforestation rates.
Researchers have attempted to estimate how much deforestation is embedded in trade by combining product-specific trade data with deforestation-linked product data.
From this data, we see that:
- Most of Europe, North America, and Asia are net importers of deforestation. Countries across South America, parts of sub-Saharan Africa, and South-East Asia are net exporters.
- The Democratic Republic of Congo, Brazil, Côte d’Ivoire, Indonesia, and Paraguay are the largest net exporters.
- The US, China, Germany, Japan, and France are the largest net importers.
Featured data on forests & deforestation
Data insights on forests & deforestation
Update
This page was first published in February 2021 and was republished with substantial revisions in September 2026.
Endnotes
The data used in this chart comes from several sources.
Forests — this data is primarily sourced from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). It provides long-term estimates of forest cover 10,000 and 5,000 years ago. Its State of the World’s Forests report provides estimates of global forest cover today, and rates of change over previous decades. In a related post, we have combined this FAO data with global deforestation rates from Williams (2003) to document forest change over the last 300 years — this gives us data on forest change from 1700 onwards.
The definition of “forest” can vary depending on aspects such as tree density and height. Absolute estimates of forest cover from other sources may differ for this reason. However, most agree on the relative change in forests over this period. For example, Ellis et al. (2020) estimate a 35% loss of global forest cover since 10,000 years ago. This is very close to our estimate of a one-third loss.
Agricultural and urban land — the UN FAO Statistical database provides data on global agricultural and urban land from 1961 onwards.
Pre-1961 land use is sourced from the work of Ellis et al. (2020).
FAO and UNEP. 2020. The State of the World’s Forests 2020. Forests, biodiversity and people. Rome.
Williams, M. (2003). Deforesting the earth: from prehistory to global crisis. University of Chicago Press.
Ellis, E. C., Beusen, A. H., & Goldewijk, K. K. (2020). Anthropogenic Biomes: 10,000 BCE to 2015 CE. Land, 9(5), 129.
Singh, C., & Persson, U. M. (2026). Global patterns of commodity-driven deforestation and associated carbon emissions. Nature Food, 7(2), 138-151.
This data comes from the work of Singh and Persson (2026).
Singh, C., & Persson, U. M. (2026). Global patterns of commodity-driven deforestation and associated carbon emissions. Nature Food, 7(2), 138-151.
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Hannah Ritchie, Fiona Spooner, and Max Roser (2021) - “Forests and Deforestation” Published online at OurWorldinData.org. Retrieved from: 'https://ourworldindata.org/forests-and-deforestation' [Online Resource]BibTeX citation
@article{owid-forests-and-deforestation,
author = {Hannah Ritchie and Fiona Spooner and Max Roser},
title = {Forests and Deforestation},
journal = {Our World in Data},
year = {2021},
note = {https://ourworldindata.org/forests-and-deforestation}
}
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