The latest National Statistics on woodland produced by Forest Research were released on 29 September 2022 according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.
Key findings
- The area of woodland in the UK at 31 March 2022 is estimated to be 3.24 million hectares. This represents 13% of the total land area in the UK, 19% in Scotland, 15% in Wales, 10% in England, and 9% in Northern Ireland.
- Of the total UK woodland area, 0.86 million hectares is owned or managed by Forestry England, Forestry and Land Scotland, Natural Resources Wales or the Forest Service (in Northern Ireland).
- The total certified woodland area in the UK at 31 March 2022 is 1.42 million hectares, including all Forestry England/Forestry and Land Scotland/Welsh Government Woodland Estate/Forest Service woodland. Overall, 44% of the UK woodland area is certified.
- Around 14 thousand hectares of newly created woodland were reported in the UK in 2021-22.
- Around 15 thousand hectares of publicly funded woodland restocking were reported in the UK in 2021-22.
- Woodland Carbon Code projects in the UK that were validated (including those that were also verified) at 31 March 2022 were predicted to sequester a total of 6.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over their lifetime of up to 100 years. This represents 5.5 million tonnes in Scotland, 1.1 million tonnes in England, 230 thousand tonnes in Wales and 11 thousand tonnes in Northern Ireland.
Documents
Accompanying data sets
Details
Coverage: United Kingdom
Geographical breakdown: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
Quality: Quality report: Woodland Statistics
Statistician: Simon Maxwell
Contact
Tel: 0300 067 5997
Email: statistics@forestresearch.gov.uk
Next update
15 June 2023
Provisional data for the year to 31 March 2023 will be published in Provisional Woodland Statistics 2023.
Pre-release access
Information on pre-release access to this publication can be found in the pre-release access page.
Additional Resources
Methodology
More detailed information on the methodology for estimating woodland area is provided in the sources chapter of Forestry Statistics 2021. The estimates make use of the National Forest Inventory data. Further information (including reports) can be found on the National Forest Inventory page.
Previous releases
Prior to the 2019 edition of Provisional Woodland Statistics, the reported figures were published in two separate releases:
- Woodland Area, Planting and Publicly Funded Restocking; and
- Woodland Carbon Code Statistics (previously released on a quarterly basis).
Early provisional results for UK woodland area, certified woodland area and areas of new planting and publicly funded restocking were provided in the First Release Woodland Area, Planting and Publicly Funded Restocking published every June:
Woodland Carbon Code releases provided statistics for projects registered under the Woodland Carbon Code and were released quarterly until Spring 2018:
User engagement
In order to improve the statistics that we produce and to ensure that they remain relevant, we are interested in hearing from people who use our statistics. More information on how we consult users and contact details can be found on our user engagement page.
