Papua New Guinea: Forest area (sq. km)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2025, Papua New Guinea's forest area (sq. km) fell 0% on 2024 (from 340,327 to 340,290).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was −0% and a typical year strayed about 0% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.6 standard deviations above that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.

On record, the biggest yearly fall was 0.1% in 2010. 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 110.94 a year. A straight line explains 87% 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, Papua New Guinea had the 21st 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 Papua New Guinea in the 2025 ranking

• Central African Republic — 17th of 209: 450,949
• Zambia — 18th of 209: 448,743
• Tanzania — 19th of 209: 434,000
• Mozambique — 21st of 209: 322,429
• Sweden — 22nd of 209: 279,340
• Myanmar — 23rd of 209: 270,953

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 Papua New Guinea

• Population in largest city — 431,903 (2025)
• Population in the largest city (% of urban population) — 25.43% (2025)
• Rural population — 9.06 million (2025)
• Rural population (% of total population) — 84.22% (2025)
• Urban population — 1.7 million (2025)
• Urban population (% of total population) — 15.78% (2025)
• Aquaculture production (metric tons) — 2,552 (2024)
• Capture fisheries production (metric tons) — 342,808 (2024)
• Total fisheries production (metric tons) — 345,360 (2024)
• Rural population growth (annual %)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
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• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Papua New Guinea's forest area (sq. km)?

340,290 in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1990?

It is down 1.69% from 346,144 in 1990. The highest value was 346,144 in 1990 and the lowest 340,290 in 2025.

How does Papua New Guinea rank?

21st highest of 209 economies with data for 2025.

Is the latest change in forest area (sq. km) unusual for Papua New Guinea?

In 2025, Papua New Guinea's forest area (sq. km) fell 0% on 2024 (from 340,327 to 340,290). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was −0% and a typical year strayed about 0% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.6 standard deviations above that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.

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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