By Pallavi Rao
Reforestation is tricky business: it’s expensive, difficult to plan, and even harder to execute. And this is without all the associated environmental obstacles: weather, pests, and natural calamities.
However, some countries have prioritized replanting their lost forests, especially in the last two decades as the climate movement has gathered steam.
We visualized forest growth around the world, ranking countries by their forest area increases between 2001–2021, measured in square kilometers (km²).
All of this data was sourced from the World Bank. Note that countries are ranked by forest growth in square kilometers, rather than percentage change.
Which Country Leads Forest Growth Since 2001?
China tops the list, expanding its forest area by nearly 425,000 km2 (roughly the size of Sweden) between 2001–21. This is more than the next 19 countries combined. Relatively speaking, China’s forests increased by almost one-fourth.
| Rank | Country | Region | 2001–21 Change (Km2) |
% of Forest Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  China |
Asia | 424,962 | 24% |
| 2 |  U.S. |
North America | 57,406 | 2% |
| 3 |  Russia |
Europe | 54,564 | 1% |
| 4 |  India |
Asia | 46,449 | 7% |
| 5 |  Vietnam |
Asia | 27,745 | 23% |
| 6 |  Chile |
South America | 24,257 | 15% |
| 7 |  Australia |
Oceania | 24,178 | 2% |
| 8 |  Turkiye |
Middle East | 21,345 | 11% |
| 9 |  France |
Europe | 19,353 | 13% |
| 10 |  Spain |
Europe | 13,374 | 8% |
| 11 |  Iran |
Middle East | 13,033 | 14% |
| 12 |  Italy |
Europe | 11,848 | 14% |
| 13 |  Cuba |
Central America | 7,573 | 30% |
| 14 |  Thailand |
Asia | 7,315 | 4% |
| 15 |  Uzbekistan |
Asia | 7,152 | 24% |
| 16 |  Uruguay |
South America | 6,468 | 46% |
| 17 |  Romania |
Europe | 5,482 | 9% |
| 18 |  Bulgaria |
Europe | 4,948 | 15% |
| 19 |  Belarus |
Europe | 4,734 | 6% |
| 20 |  Poland |
Europe | 4,090 | 5% |
| N/A |  World |
-957,658 | -2% |
There are some other countries who have achieved similar relative levels of reforestation. Within Asia, Vietnam’s forests as a percentage of total land area have doubled since 1990. Since 2001, its forests have grown nearly 28,000 km², a 23% increase.
Uzbekistan similarly expanded its forested area by 24%, which amounts to about 7,000 km².
Meanwhile, Chile and Uruguay, are the only two South American countries that have managed to expand their forest cover in the last two decades—the latter by a staggering 46%. In contrast, the rest of South America is instead seeing significant deforestation.
It’s interesting to note that reforestation also comes with its own risks. Introducing non-native or monoculture tree species can reduce biodiversity and lead to soil erosion.
And despite global reforestation efforts, the world still lost close to a million square kilometers of forests since 2001.
Credit: Visual Capitalist
