Forests, forestry and logging

Data extracted in December 2021.

Planned article update: December 2022.

Highlights

The area of forest in the EU increased by almost 10 % in 1990–2020; with the largest relative increase in Ireland (by 69 %) and largest absolute increase in Spain (by 4.7 million ha).

Estimated 63 % of the net annual increment of timber in EU forests was logged in 2019.

At the EU level, forestry and logging accounted for almost 0.2 % of the total GDP in 2019 and employed about 517 000 people.

Forest area in the EU, 1990–2020
(%)
Source: Eurostat (for_area_efa) and (reg_area3)

This article presents statistics on forestry and logging in the European Union (EU), including the status and changes in forest area, the volume of timber in EU's forests and its use by the logging industry. It provides a summary of economic activity of forestry and logging in Member States. The article is mostly based on Eurostat's annual data collection European Forest Accounts. Indicators combining both the physical and the economic data are presented.

The European Union (EU) accounts for approximately 5 % of the world’s forests and, contrary to what is happening in many other parts of the world, the forested area of the EU is slowly increasing. European forests are an important factor in mitigating climate change. Socio-economically, forests vary from small family holdings to state forests or to large estates owned by companies, but they also provide a wide range of ecosystem services, most of which are not recorded by economic accounts and statistics, such as carbon sequestration, protection of soil from erosion or providing opportunities for recreation.

Full article

Forests in the EU

In 2020, the EU had an estimated 159 million hectares of forests (excluding other wooded land) and their area has increased by almost 10 % since 1990. Forest area increased in all EU countries with the exception of Sweden, where a small decrease by 0.3 % was estimated, and Portugal, where forest area decreased by 3 % in the period of 1990–2020. The largest increase took place in Ireland (69 %), Spain (34 %) and Malta (31%); however, in Ireland and Malta forest covers only a small share of land, 11 % and 1 %, respectively, as shown in Figure 1. Of countries where forests cover at least half of the national territory, Estonia and Latvia reported the biggest increases in forest area (11 % and 7 %, respectively) in 1990–2020. In absolute terms, the largest increase of forest area is estimated to have taken place in Spain (4.7 million ha), France (2.8 million ha) and Italy (2.0 million ha).

Figure 1: Forest area in the EU, 1990–2020
(%)
Source: Eurostat (for_area_efa) and (reg_area3)

The growing stocks of timber in the EU's forests totalled an estimated 28.4 billion m³ (over bark) in 2019. Germany accounted for the largest share of this (13.4 %), followed by Sweden (12.5 %), and France (11.8 %). Growing stocks of timber in EU forests increased in every Member State giving a 29 % growth at the EU level in the period of 2000–2019. The largest increase was estimated for Ireland (115 %), France (61 %) and Italy (57 %), while, at the other end of the spectrum, a much more moderate increase was estimated for Sweden (13 %) as well as Czechia and Germany (15 % each) (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Growing stocks of timber in EU forests, 2000–2019
(%)
Source: Eurostat (for_vol_efa)

In total, estimated 63 % of the net annual increment in EU forests was removed by the logging industry in 2019, the net increment being defined as 'the average annual volume growth of timber less the average (recurring) annual mortality'. Removals in three countries exceeded 90 % of the net increment in 2019: Czechia (111 %), the Netherlands (96 %) and Germany (94 %) (data for the two first countries are estimates). By contrast, 6 % of the net increment was logged in Cyprus in 2019 (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Share of removals to net increment in EU forests, 2019
(%)
Source: Eurostat (for_vol_efa)

Economic indicators for forestry and logging

The value added, in economic terms, of forestry and logging is presented for the EU and Member States in Table 1. Total gross value added (GVA) generated by the forestry and logging industry in the EU was €25.3 billion in 2019. In absolute terms, these industries generated the greatest GVA in Finland (€4.2 billion), Sweden (€3.5 billion) and France (€3.3 billion) in 2019. Please note that Table 1 shows GVA data for 2000 and 2019 in current prices (i.e. not corrected for inflation). Therefore, they cannot be used directly to make comparisons across time or comment on temporal trends. GVA values related to GDP, shown in the last columns, may better serve this purpose.

Table 1: Economic indicators for forestry and logging, 2000 and 2019
Source: Eurostat (for_eco_cp), (for_area_efa) and (nama_10_gdp)

Gross value added of forestry and logging industry represented 0.18 % of the GDP of the EU in 2019, which is 15 % less than the share of 0.21 % in 2000. The economic importance of forestry and logging, expressed as the share of GVA generated by the industry in the total GDP of the country, was greatest in Latvia (1.8 %), Finland (1.7 %) and Estonia (1.3 %) in 2019; in all other Member States it was less than 1 %.

On average, forests of EU countries generated 159 €/ha of GVA in 2019. The largest GVA per forest area was estimated for the Netherlands, Denmark and Czechia in 2019. While this indicator may be affected by the type of activities performed by the forestry and logging sector, it may be used as a proxy of economic productivity of forestry activities across the EU (see Table 1 and Figure 4).

Figure 4: Forestry and logging gross value added per forest area, 2000 and 2019
(€ / hectare, current prices)
Source: Eurostat (for_eco_cp), (nama_10_a64) and (for_area_efa)

Employment and apparent labour productivity in forestry and logging

Table 2 provides information on employment and apparent labour productivity within the EU’s forestry and logging sector, based on National Accounts employment data. In the EU, about 517 400 persons worked in the forestry and logging sector in 2019, which represented a decrease of 7 % compared to year 2000. The largest workforce was recorded in Poland with 63 300 persons, Romania (58 100 persons) and Sweden (41 000 persons).

Table 2: Employment and apparent labour productivity in forestry and logging, 2000 and 2019
Source: Eurostat (nama_10_a64_e), (for_area_efa), (for_vol_efa) and (for_eco_cp)

The ratio of labour input per area of forest gives an indication of the labour intensity of the sector across the EU Member States. This indicator varies considerably between countries, ranging from abound 13.2 employed persons per 1 000 hectares in Slovakia to less than two persons per 1 000 hectares in Spain, Finland, Sweden and France (see Table 2 and Figure 5). Some of the differences across EU Member States may also reflect differences in management practices, the density of the growing stocks, dominant tree species and the terrain.

Figure 5: Employment per area of forest, 2000 and 2019
(persons employed / 1 000 ha)
Source: Eurostat (nama_10_a64_e), and (for_area_efa)

The labour productivity of the forestry and logging sector (calculated as GVA per person employed) also varied substantially across EU Member States in 2019. Using this measure, the highest levels of labour productivity were recorded in Finland (€ 192 100 per person employed) and France (€ 118 300 per person employed), while at the other end of the range, Cyprus and Greece recorded labour productivity of € 4 900 per person employed and € 5 700 per person employed in the sector, respectively (see Table 2).

Source data for tables and graphs

Forests, forestry and logging - tables and figures

Data sources

Eurostat, the Timber Committee of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), Forestry Section of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) collect and collate statistics on the production and trade of wood through their Joint Forest Sector Questionnaire (JFSQ). Each partner collects data from a different part of the world; Eurostat is responsible for the data collection exercise pertaining to the EU Member States and EFTA countries.

Eurostat produces annual data on forestry and wood industry using two questionnaires:

The Joint Forest Sector Questionnaire (JFSQ) on production and trade in wood and wood products;
European Forest Accounts (EFA), forming part of the environmental satellite accounts initiative that started in the late 1990s.

The JFSQ provides data for supply balances of timber used for wood products and for energy, and for estimating the carbon contained in harvested wood products.

The collection of forest accounts re-started in 2008 after a break of several years, As in the 1990s, it was known as Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting for Forests (IEEAF). In 2016, the questionnaire was revised with a task force of experts, to simplify the data collection and adapted to new needs, while continuing the time series on the economic aggregates of forestry and logging. The questionnaire was re-named European Forest Accounts (EFA).

Context

A broad array of EU policies and initiatives has a bearing on forests. For several decades, environmental forest functions have attracted increasing attention — for example, in relation to the protection of biodiversity and, more recently, in the context of climate change impacts and energy policies. Apart from the traditional production of wood and other forest-based products, forests are increasingly valued for their environmental role and as a public amenity. This is recognized in the New EU Forest Strategy for 2030 adopted in July 2021.