Sri Lanka: Forest area (sq. km)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2025, Sri Lanka's forest area (sq. km) fell 0.2% on 2024 (from 21,256 to 21,207).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was −0.3% and a typical year strayed about 0.4% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.1 standard deviations above 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 0.4% in 2016 and the biggest yearly fall was 0.6% in 2000. 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 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 9% of the movement over 10 observed years, so the value is moving around more than it is heading anywhere.

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

How it compares

In 2025, Sri Lanka had the 105th 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 Sri Lanka in the 2025 ranking

• Dominican Republic — 102nd of 209: 22,575
• Lithuania — 103rd of 209: 22,163
• Bosnia and Herzegovina — 104th of 209: 21,621
• Guinea-Bissau — 106th of 209: 20,996
• Hungary — 107th of 209: 20,874
• Malawi — 108th of 209: 20,317

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

• Bangladesh — 18,734 (2025)
• Bhutan — 26,747 (2025)
• India — 727,390 (2025)
• Maldives — 37.2 (2025)
• Nepal — 62,663 (2025)

More environment data for Sri Lanka

• Population in largest city — 647,557 (2025)
• Population in the largest city (% of urban population) — 14.55% (2025)
• Rural population — 17.31 million (2025)
• Rural population (% of total population) — 79.55% (2025)
• Urban population — 4.45 million (2025)
• Urban population (% of total population) — 20.45% (2025)
• Aquaculture production (metric tons) — 56,118 (2024)
• Capture fisheries production (metric tons) — 355,902 (2024)
• Total fisheries production (metric tons) — 412,020 (2024)
• Rural population growth (annual %)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is Sri Lanka's forest area (sq. km)?

21,207 in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1990?

It is down 10.52% from 23,699 in 1990 (0.32% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was 23,699 in 1990 and the lowest 20,983 in 2015.

How does Sri Lanka rank?

105th highest of 209 economies with data for 2025.

Is the latest change in forest area (sq. km) unusual for Sri Lanka?

In 2025, Sri Lanka's forest area (sq. km) fell 0.2% on 2024 (from 21,256 to 21,207). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was −0.3% and a typical year strayed about 0.4% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.1 standard deviations above 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.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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