Russia had the largest forest area in 2025, covering about 833 million hectares, or 20.1% of the world’s total forest area, according to Visual Capitalist.
Brazil ranked second with 486 million hectares, followed by Canada with 369 million hectares.
The United States had 309 million hectares, while China ranked fifth with 227 million hectares.
The five countries together accounted for more than half of the world’s forest area.
The Democratic Republic of Congo ranked sixth with 139 million hectares, followed by Australia with 134 million hectares and Indonesia with 96 million hectares.
India and Peru completed the top 10, with 73 million and 67 million hectares respectively.
Globally, forests covered about 4.14 billion hectares in 2025, equivalent to roughly 32 per cent of the world’s land area.
