What Countries Have the Largest Forests in the World?

Top 25 Countries with the Largest Forests

_{Source: Visual Capitalist, Note: Figures above rounded to nearest tenth (area) or decimal (share) [1][2]}

World's Biggest Forests: Key Highlights

• Forests cover one-third of the world’s surface area, totalling roughly 40.4 million square kilometres (km²) ^[1]
• The top 15 countries with the largest forests account for roughly 70% of the world’s forest cover ^[1]
• Russia alone accounts for more than 20%, or one-fifth of Earth’s forested lands
• Russia, Brazil, and Canada account for more than 40% of the world's forests 
• China’s forest cover has grown by nearly 650,000 km² (nearly twice the size of Norway) since 1990 ^[1]
• Three-quarters of Australia’s forests are eucalyptus trees which have extremely flammable bark ^[1]
• Indonesia’s forest cover has declined nearly 20% since 1990, driven by an expanding palm oil sector ^[1]
• The Amazon rainforest, spanning 6.7 million km², spreads over nine countries including Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, and Brazil ^[1]

Russia, the world’s largest country, is home to the largest forest area – about 20 per cent of the world's forests. Almost half of Russia’s land surface area is forest, measuring approximately 8 million km². Russia’s forests are in fact larger than those of every country in the world combined, except for Canada, Brazil, Australia, China, and the United States.

Next up, Brazil is home to almost five million km² of forest cover, about 12% of the world’s forests. With nearly two-thirds of the Amazon rainforest found inside South America’s largest country, Brazil’s forested area is nearly twice as large as Saudi Arabia, the world’s 12th largest country.

Canada ranks third globally, with nearly 9% of the world’s forests spread across 362 million hectares, or nearly 40% of its land surface. Canada’s forests are considered 95% naturally regenerating and about 5% planted ^[1].

Forests are Part of Canadian Identity

Like for many other countries on this list, forests are an incredibly important part of life for Canadians and Indigenous peoples from coast to coast, providing a wide range of social and economic benefits.

The forestry sector, for example, provides critical jobs and career opportunities for workers in 2,400 communities, many of which are in remote locations. The industry adds over $27 billion to the national economy, supports more than 300 forest-reliant communities, and employs nearly 200,000 people, including roughly 12,000 Indigenous peoples ^[3].

Apart from economic opportunities, Canadians and Indigenous peoples enjoy leisure and recreation in forests, sometimes daily. Over 23 million people live in or near forests in Canada, making our forests an inherent part of our identity as we live, work and play in them year-round.

It’s time to get behind our forestry, food, mining and energy workers to build our national economy back up and secure our economic future! pic.twitter.com/BPsHwJUi8o

— Canada Action (@CanadaAction) October 18, 2025

SOURCES:

_{1 – https://www.visualcapitalist.com/which-countries-have-the-largest-forests/}

_{2 – https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-countries-with-the-largest-forests-in-2025/}

_{3 – https://natural-resources.canada.ca/forest-forestry/state-canada-forests/forest-industry-contribute}