Japan: Forest area (% of land area)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2024, Japan's forest area (% of land area) fell 0.01 percentage points on 2023 (from 68.35% to 68.34%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1994 to 2023), the average change was −0 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.02 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.3 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 0.02 percentage points in 2002 and the biggest yearly fall was 0.02 percentage points in 1998. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2015 to 2024 the straight-line trend is downward, about 0.01 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 97% of the movement over 10 observed years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

How it compares

In 2024, Japan had the 20th highest value of the 209 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to Japan in the 2024 ranking

• Timor-Leste — 17th of 209: 70.96%
• Bhutan — 18th of 209: 70.35%
• Sweden — 19th of 209: 68.59%
• Liberia — 21st of 209: 66.1%
• British Virgin Islands — 22nd of 209: 66.03%
• Korea, Rep. — 23rd of 209: 64.37%

What this measures

Forest area (% of land area) is the share of total land area that is under natural or planted stands of trees of at least 5 meters in situ, whether productive or not, and excludes tree stands in agricultural production systems (for example, in fruit plantations and agroforestry systems) and trees in urban parks and gardens.

Limitations: FAO has been collecting and analyzing data on forest area since 1946. This is done at intervals of 5-10 years as part of the Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA). FAO reports data for 229 countries and territories; for the remaining 56 small island states and territories where no information is provided, a report is prepared by FAO using existing information and a literature search. The data are aggregated at sub-regional, regional and global levels by the FRA team at FAO, and estimates are produced by straight summation. The lag between the reference year and the actual production of data series as well as the frequency of data production varies between countries.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.

All 35 values

Forest area (% of land area) in nearby economies

• American Samoa — 79.65% (2024)
• Australia — 17.37% (2024)
• Brunei Darussalam — 72.11% (2024)
• Cambodia — 37.63% (2024)
• China — 24.02% (2024)
• Fiji — 61.74% (2024)
• French Polynesia — 42.45% (2024)
• Guam — 52.26% (2024)
• Indonesia — 50.67% (2024)
• Kiribati — 1.32% (2024)
• Korea, Dem. People's Rep. — 64.09% (2024)

More environment data for Japan

• Population in largest city — 37.04 million (2025)
• Population in the largest city (% of urban population) — 32.53% (2025)
• Population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million — 80.94 million (2025)
• Population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million (% of total population) — 65.61% (2025)
• Rural population — 9.5 million (2025)
• Rural population (% of total population) — 7.7% (2025)
• Urban population — 113.87 million (2025)
• Urban population (% of total population) — 92.3% (2025)
• Aquaculture production (metric tons) — 802,045 (2024)
• Capture fisheries production (metric tons)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is Japan's forest area (% of land area)?

68.34% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1990?

It is down 0.09 percentage points from 68.43% in 1990. The highest value was 68.49% in 2010 and the lowest 68.25% in 2000.

How does Japan rank?

20th highest of 209 economies with data for 2024.

Is the latest change in forest area (% of land area) unusual for Japan?

In 2024, Japan's forest area (% of land area) fell 0.01 percentage points on 2023 (from 68.35% to 68.34%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1994 to 2023), the average change was −0 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.02 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.3 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator AG.LND.FRST.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: FAOSTAT, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), uri: https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/RL, publisher: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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