Climate · Africa ranking
Forest Area by African country
Gabon has the highest forest area as a share of land of any African country, at 91.2%, ahead of Equatorial Guinea and Liberia.
Forest area as a share of total land area. 54 of 54 countries, ranked · World Bank — World Development Indicators, 2023.
By region
Full ranking
| # | Country | Forest Area | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gabon | 91.2% | |
| 2 | Equatorial Guinea | 86.4% | |
| 3 | Liberia | 78.1% | |
| 4 | Seychelles | 73.3% | |
| 5 | Guinea-Bissau | 69.5% | |
| 6 | Republic of the Congo | 64.1% | |
| 7 | Zambia | 59.5% | |
| 8 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 54.2% | |
| 9 | Sao Tome and Principe | 52.1% | |
| 10 | Angola | 52.1% | |
| 11 | Tanzania | 50.1% | |
| 12 | Mozambique | 45.8% | |
| 13 | Zimbabwe | 44.7% | |
| 14 | Cameroon | 42.7% | |
| 15 | Senegal | 41.3% | |
| 16 | Central African Republic | 35.7% | |
| 17 | Ghana | 35.2% | |
| 18 | Sierra Leone | 34.3% | |
| 19 | Eswatini | 29.1% | |
| 20 | Benin | 26.5% | |
| 21 | Botswana | 26.3% | |
| 22 | Guinea | 24.7% | |
| 23 | Nigeria | 23.2% | |
| 24 | Malawi | 22.4% | |
| 25 | Gambia | 22.3% | |
| 26 | Burkina Faso | 22.2% | |
| 27 | Togo | 22.1% | |
| 28 | Madagascar | 21.3% | |
| 29 | Mauritius | 19.5% | |
| 30 | Comoros | 17% | |
| 31 | Ethiopia | 14.9% | |
| 32 | South Africa | 14% | |
| 33 | Morocco | 12.9% | |
| 34 | Cabo Verde | 11.6% | |
| 35 | South Sudan | 11.3% | |
| 36 | Rwanda | 11.3% | |
| 37 | Uganda | 11% | |
| 38 | Mali | 10.9% | |
| 39 | Burundi | 10.9% | |
| 40 | Sudan | 9.6% | |
| 41 | Somalia | 9.2% | |
| 42 | Eritrea | 8.6% | |
| 43 | Cote d'Ivoire | 7.9% | |
| 44 | Namibia | 7.8% | |
| 45 | Kenya | 6.2% | |
| 46 | Tunisia | 4.6% | |
| 47 | Chad | 3.2% | |
| 48 | Lesotho | 1.1% | |
| 49 | Algeria | 0.8% | |
| 50 | Niger | 0.8% | |
| 51 | Mauritania | 0.3% | |
| 52 | Djibouti | 0.3% | |
| 53 | Libya | 0.1% | |
| 54 | Egypt | 0% |
Get this ranking via API
One call to /v1/data returns the latest Forest Area figure for every country you pass — JSON, with source metadata on each observation.
curl "https://api.africa-api.com/v1/data?metric_key=forest_area_pct_land&latest=true&country_codes=NG,KE,ZA,EG" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $AFRICA_API_KEY"Cite or republish this ranking
Data: Africa API — World Bank — World Development Indicators, 2023. Free to republish with a link to this page. Pull the live figures via the API above so your version never goes stale.
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Frequently asked questions
Which African country has the highest forest area as a share of land?
Gabon has the highest forest area as a share of land in Africa at 91.2% (2023), followed by Equatorial Guinea and Liberia.
Which African country has the lowest forest area as a share of land?
Egypt has the lowest forest area as a share of land of the 54 African countries with data, at 0% (2023).
How many African countries report Forest Area data?
54 of 54 African countries have a recent Forest Area figure in the Africa API. Each value links to the country's full series with source and history.
How do I get this ranking via API?
Call GET /v1/data?metric_key=forest_area_pct_land&latest=true with the country codes you need and a free Africa API key — the response returns the latest value per country as JSON.
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