Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
[4D1_E2] Eurostat - Environmental statistics and accounts; sustainable development
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
European Commission, 2920 Luxembourg LUXEMBOURG
1.6. Contact email address
Confidential because of GDPR
1.7. Contact phone number
Confidential because of GDPR
1.8. Contact fax number
Confidential because of GDPR
2.1. Metadata last certified
26 January 2026
2.2. Metadata last posted
26 January 2026
2.3. Metadata last update
26 January 2026
3.1. Data description
Forest accounts record and present data on forest resources and economic activity in the forestry and logging industry in a way that is fully compatible with the data reported under the ESA 2010. Forest accounts provide complementary information and use concepts adapted to the particular nature of forests and of the forestry and logging industry.
This metadata file covers data on forest resources from the following sources:
European Forest Accounts (EFA): Eurostat's annual data collection on forest resources and economic activity in forestry and logging industry. Datasets:
forest area (for_area_efa), volume of timber in forests (for_vol_efa),
economic aggregates of forestry (for_eco_cp), supply and use of products in forestry (for_sup_cp), monetary supply and use of wood in the rough (for_emsuw), physical supply and use of wood in the rough, overbark (for_epsuw), output of forestry by type (for_eoutput),
employment in forestry (for_awu)
FAO - Forest Resources Assessment (FAO - FRA): 5 yearly data collection - on forest area and volume (Datasets: for_area, for_vol)
Labour Force Survey (LFS): Datasets: for_emp_lfs, for_emp_lfs1
Economic aggregates include output, intermediate consumption, gross value added, fixed capital consumption, gross fixed capital formation and different measures of income of forestry and logging. The data are in current prices and use the concepts and definitions of National Accounts. Employment data includes labour input in annual working units (AWU), they are harmonized to 1 AWU =1800 working hours a year (i.e. they may differ from nationally published data depending on the conversion factor).
Employment data from Eurostat's Labour Force Survey (LFS) are presented as well, covering estimates of the number of employees in forestry and logging, the manufacture of wood and products of wood and cork, the manufacture of paper and paper products, and the manufacture of furniture. There are two separate tables because of the change in the EU's classification of economic activities from NACE Rev. 1.1 to NACE Rev. 2 in 2008.
Estimation of missing data for EFA: data for output, intermediate consumption, gross and net value added, compensation of employees, consumption of fixed capital and net operating surplus are gap-filled by Eurostat for countries and non-mandatory years where missing. The estimation procedure is as follows: 1) for countries who never reported for EFA, these variables are gapfilled based on National Accounts data for NACE A02 (source: nama_10a_64); 2) for countries who reported data for EFA only for some years and these are well aligned with National Accounts data, the missing datapoints are gap-filled from National Accounts data for NACE A02; 3) for countries who reported data for EFA only for some years and there are not well-allighned with National Accounts data, the missing variables are gap-filled with estimates based on National Accounts data for NACE A02 adjusted using the ratio of EFA-to-National Accounts for a concrete variable - output, intermediate consumption, compensation of employees or consumption of fixed capital; whereas gross and net value added, and net operating surplus are gap-filled as balancing items between respective variables.
3.2. Classification system
The classifications used for EFA are NACE Rev. 2 (2008), CPA Ver. 2.1 (2015), SNA 2008 and ESA 2010.
The forest definitions are those of FAO/FRA 2015.
The classifications used for the Labour Force Surveys are NACE Rev. 1.1, NACE Rev. 2 and ISCED for the level of education.
3.3. Coverage - sector
NACE Rev, 2 sector Forestry and logging (02)
NACE Rev. 2 sectors covered by LFS: Forestry and logging (02), Manufacture of wood and wood products (16), Manufacture of pulp, paper and paper products (17), Manufacture of furniture (31)
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
Forest accounts provide a detailed view of forest-related assets (land and timber), activities (mainly forestry and logging) and flows of wood products in a structure closely related to, but going beyond, national accounts. Forest accounts are thus a satellite account with respect to National Accounts, and follow the concepts, definitions and accounting rules of the core national accounts.
EFA accounts present data compatible with the data reported under ESA (ESA 2010, 1.54-63). EFA use statistical units from national accounts.
Data on the area of wooded land and the volumne of timber are collected and presented at national level.
The accounting data present aggregates for the economic activities of forestry and logging in each country. The units of data collection should be local kind-of-activity units or enterprises, but not all countries have such information, particularly on the forestry activities of farms mainly engaged in agriculture.
3.6. Statistical population
Area of wooded land, both physical and monetary
Timber output by type of wooded land, both physical and monetary
Main economic aggregates, such as output, intermediate consumption, gross value added, fixed capital consumption, gross fixed capital formation and different measures of income of forestry and logging, broken down into their components
Labour input in forestry and in the downstream wood and paper industries
Output of forestry by type and institutional sector
Supply and use of wood in the rough by all industries
3.7. Reference area
EU Member States, EFTA countries and selected candidate countries.
The data in all EFA tables use the entire country territory as a reference area.
Data for France cover only mainland France without the overseas territories and dominions French Guyana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion or Mayotte.
3.8. Coverage - Time
EFA data: coverage differs across countries.
First mandatory reference year is 2022. Time series are comparable from 2022 onwards, except for the following countries:
Switzerland (1990), Austria (2006), Slovenia (2012), Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Sweden (2016), Belgium, France, Latvia (2020), Germany, Portugal (2021)
A few time series are from 1986-2004 (historical series); the predecessor data collection IEEAF is for 2005-2011. Voluntary EFA reporting 2012-2021.
FAO - FRA data: from 1990
Concepts and definitions are mainained throughout the presented time series unless indicated by a b) footnote.
3.9. Base period
Not requested for this metadata collection.
1000 ha (land)
1000 m3 overbark (timber)
Million national currency (EUR or other) - current prices
Million EUR - current prices
Annual work unit (AWU) - harmonised to 1 AWU = 1800 working hours per year, unless indicated with a d) flag where other, country-specific definition applies.
Thousand persons (employed; self-employed)
The reference period for EFA accounts data is the calendar year.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 as regards introducing new environmental economic accounts modules. It entered into force on 1 January 2025.
Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2011 on European environmental economic accounts
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Not applicable.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
Eurostat publishes national data that are delivered according to the relevant legislation and are not considered to be of truly confidential nature in line with Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics.
Most national data for EFA are not confidential. If some data are of truly confidential nature according to the above-mentioned regulation (data which allow statistical units to be identified, either directly or indirectly), they are flagged confidential, and will not be published by Eurostat.
8.1. Release calendar
For EFA: data released once per year, in December.
For FAO - FRA and Forest Europe: Eurostat re-publishes these data as they become available from sources providers.
8.2. Release calendar access
Not available
8.3. Release policy - user access
In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on its website (see item 10 - 'Accessibility and clarity') respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.
For EFA: annual
For FAO - FRA: 5 yearly
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
Online news releases
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
Until publication year 2020 (i.e. data reference year 2018) in Eurostat Statistical Book on Agriculture, forestry and fisheries statistics
Forest Europe's report on the State of Europe's Forests (every 5 years)
A series of validation checks against pre-defined validation rules are performed to assess internal and time-series consistency of EFA returns; external consistency with national accounts, FAO-FRA data and data on wood products and removals from the Joint Forest Sector Questionnaire.
Policy-makers including forest management policies; researchers.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Not available.
12.3. Completeness
25 Member States and two EFTA countries report data to Eurostat. 2 Member States have a 2-year-derogation from reporting obligations.
In addition, Eurostat gapfills EFA tables:
for_area_efa: variable 'closing stocks' of 'forest' with FAO - FRA data on forest area. (EFA and FAO - FRA use the same definition of forest area.)
for_vol_efa: variables 'opening stocks', 'annual increment', 'removals' and 'closing stocks' of 'forest' for all Member States with the exception of France for which 'forest available for wood supply' is gapfilled instead of 'forest'. This is done to align with the reporting of France - France only reports data for 'forest available for wood supply'. (This gapfillling is performed for reference years until 2021 and using the Carbon Budget Model, see section 3.1)
Gapfilled data are flagged with s) flag ('Eurostat's estimates') in respective online tables.
FAO - FRA: Eurostat republishes data for all EU Member States. For France, Eurostat republishes only FAO - FRA values for mainland France, excluding data for overseas areas. This is done for consistency with EFA for which France only reports data for mainland France to Eurostat.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Agreement with national accounts is possible only when those data are used as the starting point. Eurostat requests data providers to go beyond national accounts and this means separating the activity of forestry from the activity of logging, with the first providing the input material for the second. This leads to higher numbers of total gross value added than those usually produced by national accounts.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Not applicable.
14.1. Timeliness
EFA: 21 months after the end of the reference year.
FAO - FRA and Forest Europe: data are collected 2 years prior to the date of publication of the 5-yearly report.
14.2. Punctuality
Data collection follows a data collection and production calendar. Data provided after the final deadline (30 September) are not published that year. They are validated and published the following year.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
In general, countries follow the EFA explanatory notes and National Accounts for concepts and definitions. However, some differences occur due to national practices. These are clearly flagged with the d-footnote in Eurostat's database.
15.2. Comparability - over time
Good within the same country. Changes in concepts or definitions are flagged with the b-footnote. (Break in time series)
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Cross-comparison with FAO - FRA on forest land and the volume of timber shows good coherence. Cross-comparison with National Accounts data shows good coherence for most countries. If the difference is larger than 20%, you find an explanation of the possible reasons (different sources, definitions, timing, etc.) in the metadata for the relevant country.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Internal coherence within the given questionnaire is good, assessed using pre-defined validation rules (see section 11.1).
6 person-months for Eurostat and ca 1-4 person-months for each data provider for regular reporting.
Revisions by country correspondents are encouraged.
17.2. Data revision - practice
All reported errors (once validated) result in corrections of the disseminated data. Reported errors that are deemed to be significant are corrected in the disseminated data as soon as the correct data have been validated. Data are only published once they are deemed to be sufficiently complete for all data providers contributing to the aggregate. New data are only used to update disseminated data if provided according to the provision schedule set by Eurostat.
All methodology issues are discussed at the meetings of Eurostat's Working group on Forestry statistics and accounts. Revisions are assessed and large revisions are consulted with the data provider.
In general, countries revise data to align with the revision in national accounts or the cycles of national forest inventories.
18.1. Source data
EFA data collection is carried out annually by national statistical institutes and research institutes working on their behalf.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Annual.
18.3. Data collection
Eurostat's EFA questionnaire is published on the Eurostat's methodology page on forestry. The data collection is launched mid-June every year, the deadline for data submission is 30 September.
18.4. Data validation
A set of validation rules is applied to assure internal and time-series consistency and improve consistency with related data (national accounts, FAO, JFSQ). Countries are asked to justify large differences and values where plausibility questions arise.
18.5. Data compilation
Gaps are filled with national accounts aggregate data when countries fail to report, to be able to produce EU aggregates. EFA data on the volume of timber are gapfilled until reference year 2021 using the Carbon Budget Model developed by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission
18.6. Adjustment
Not applicable.
No comments.
Forest accounts record and present data on forest resources and economic activity in the forestry and logging industry in a way that is fully compatible with the data reported under the ESA 2010. Forest accounts provide complementary information and use concepts adapted to the particular nature of forests and of the forestry and logging industry.
This metadata file covers data on forest resources from the following sources:
European Forest Accounts (EFA): Eurostat's annual data collection on forest resources and economic activity in forestry and logging industry. Datasets:
forest area (for_area_efa), volume of timber in forests (for_vol_efa),
economic aggregates of forestry (for_eco_cp), supply and use of products in forestry (for_sup_cp), monetary supply and use of wood in the rough (for_emsuw), physical supply and use of wood in the rough, overbark (for_epsuw), output of forestry by type (for_eoutput),
employment in forestry (for_awu)
FAO - Forest Resources Assessment (FAO - FRA): 5 yearly data collection - on forest area and volume (Datasets: for_area, for_vol)
Labour Force Survey (LFS): Datasets: for_emp_lfs, for_emp_lfs1
Economic aggregates include output, intermediate consumption, gross value added, fixed capital consumption, gross fixed capital formation and different measures of income of forestry and logging. The data are in current prices and use the concepts and definitions of National Accounts. Employment data includes labour input in annual working units (AWU), they are harmonized to 1 AWU =1800 working hours a year (i.e. they may differ from nationally published data depending on the conversion factor).
Employment data from Eurostat's Labour Force Survey (LFS) are presented as well, covering estimates of the number of employees in forestry and logging, the manufacture of wood and products of wood and cork, the manufacture of paper and paper products, and the manufacture of furniture. There are two separate tables because of the change in the EU's classification of economic activities from NACE Rev. 1.1 to NACE Rev. 2 in 2008.
Estimation of missing data for EFA: data for output, intermediate consumption, gross and net value added, compensation of employees, consumption of fixed capital and net operating surplus are gap-filled by Eurostat for countries and non-mandatory years where missing. The estimation procedure is as follows: 1) for countries who never reported for EFA, these variables are gapfilled based on National Accounts data for NACE A02 (source: nama_10a_64); 2) for countries who reported data for EFA only for some years and these are well aligned with National Accounts data, the missing datapoints are gap-filled from National Accounts data for NACE A02; 3) for countries who reported data for EFA only for some years and there are not well-allighned with National Accounts data, the missing variables are gap-filled with estimates based on National Accounts data for NACE A02 adjusted using the ratio of EFA-to-National Accounts for a concrete variable - output, intermediate consumption, compensation of employees or consumption of fixed capital; whereas gross and net value added, and net operating surplus are gap-filled as balancing items between respective variables.
26 January 2026
Forest accounts provide a detailed view of forest-related assets (land and timber), activities (mainly forestry and logging) and flows of wood products in a structure closely related to, but going beyond, national accounts. Forest accounts are thus a satellite account with respect to National Accounts, and follow the concepts, definitions and accounting rules of the core national accounts.
EFA accounts present data compatible with the data reported under ESA (ESA 2010, 1.54-63). EFA use statistical units from national accounts.
Data on the area of wooded land and the volumne of timber are collected and presented at national level.
The accounting data present aggregates for the economic activities of forestry and logging in each country. The units of data collection should be local kind-of-activity units or enterprises, but not all countries have such information, particularly on the forestry activities of farms mainly engaged in agriculture.
Area of wooded land, both physical and monetary
Timber output by type of wooded land, both physical and monetary
Main economic aggregates, such as output, intermediate consumption, gross value added, fixed capital consumption, gross fixed capital formation and different measures of income of forestry and logging, broken down into their components
Labour input in forestry and in the downstream wood and paper industries
Output of forestry by type and institutional sector
Supply and use of wood in the rough by all industries
EU Member States, EFTA countries and selected candidate countries.
The data in all EFA tables use the entire country territory as a reference area.
Data for France cover only mainland France without the overseas territories and dominions French Guyana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion or Mayotte.
The reference period for EFA accounts data is the calendar year.
Agreement with national accounts is possible only when those data are used as the starting point. Eurostat requests data providers to go beyond national accounts and this means separating the activity of forestry from the activity of logging, with the first providing the input material for the second. This leads to higher numbers of total gross value added than those usually produced by national accounts.
1000 ha (land)
1000 m3 overbark (timber)
Million national currency (EUR or other) - current prices
Million EUR - current prices
Annual work unit (AWU) - harmonised to 1 AWU = 1800 working hours per year, unless indicated with a d) flag where other, country-specific definition applies.
Thousand persons (employed; self-employed)
Gaps are filled with national accounts aggregate data when countries fail to report, to be able to produce EU aggregates. EFA data on the volume of timber are gapfilled until reference year 2021 using the Carbon Budget Model developed by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission
EFA data collection is carried out annually by national statistical institutes and research institutes working on their behalf.
For EFA: annual
For FAO - FRA: 5 yearly
EFA: 21 months after the end of the reference year.
FAO - FRA and Forest Europe: data are collected 2 years prior to the date of publication of the 5-yearly report.
In general, countries follow the EFA explanatory notes and National Accounts for concepts and definitions. However, some differences occur due to national practices. These are clearly flagged with the d-footnote in Eurostat's database.
Good within the same country. Changes in concepts or definitions are flagged with the b-footnote. (Break in time series)
