Korea, Rep.: Forest area (sq. km)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2025, Korea, Rep.'s forest area (sq. km) fell 0.1% on 2024 (from 62,829 to 62,791).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was −0.1% and a typical year strayed about 0% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.2 standard deviations above that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

On record, the biggest yearly fall was 0.2% in 2015. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2016 to 2025 the straight-line trend is downward, about 54.82 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 2025, Korea, Rep. had the 67th 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 Korea, Rep. in the 2025 ranking

• Romania — 64th of 209: 69,571
• Cambodia — 65th of 209: 63,332
• Liberia — 66th of 209: 63,265
• Nepal — 68th of 209: 62,663
• Honduras — 69th of 209: 58,613
• Morocco — 70th of 209: 56,953

What this measures

Forest area is land 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: The Food and Agricultural Organization (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.

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

All 36 values

Forest area (sq. km) in nearby economies

• American Samoa — 158.5 (2025)
• Australia — 1.34 million (2025)
• Brunei Darussalam — 3,800 (2025)
• Cambodia — 63,332 (2025)
• China — 2.27 million (2025)
• Fiji — 11,366 (2025)
• French Polynesia — 1,495 (2025)
• Guam — 282.7 (2025)
• Indonesia — 959,693 (2025)
• Japan — 249,080 (2025)
• Kiribati — 10.7 (2025)
• Korea, Dem. People's Rep. — 77,279 (2025)

More environment data for Korea, Rep.

• Population in largest city — 10.03 million (2025)
• Population in the largest city (% of urban population) — 23.9% (2025)
• Population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million — 26.41 million (2025)
• Population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million (% of total population) — 51.1% (2025)
• Rural population — 9.73 million (2025)
• Rural population (% of total population) — 18.83% (2025)
• Urban population — 41.95 million (2025)
• Urban population (% of total population) — 81.17% (2025)
• Aquaculture production (metric tons) — 2.28 million (2024)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Korea, Rep.'s forest area (sq. km)?

62,791 in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1990?

It is down 4.15% from 65,510 in 1990 (0.12% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was 65,510 in 1990 and the lowest 62,791 in 2025.

How does Korea, Rep. rank?

67th highest of 209 economies with data for 2025.

Is the latest change in forest area (sq. km) unusual for Korea, Rep.?

In 2025, Korea, Rep.'s forest area (sq. km) fell 0.1% on 2024 (from 62,829 to 62,791). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was −0.1% and a typical year strayed about 0% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.2 standard deviations above that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator AG.LND.FRST.K2, 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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