Forestry Statistics 2024

Forestry Facts and Figures 2024: correction

On Thursday, 26 September, we published this year’s summary of forestry statistics, Forestry Facts and Figures 2024. The statistics are compiled by Forest Research on behalf of the forestry authorities in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and provide information on woodland area and cover, timber and wood products, imports and exports to economics, employment, woodland visits and the environment.

Since publication, we have updated the figure provided for percentage of land area in the UK covered by woodland. The statistic, published in the Forestry Facts and Figures booklet, and found in Chapter 1 Woodland Area and Planting ‘Key Findings’ of the full set of statistics, has been amended due to a typographic error. As of March 2024, woodland area in the UK represents 13.5% of total land area in the UK. We have also made further changes to reported area sub-totals related to private sector conifer woodland area in England. The total hectares of woodland in the UK is 3,279,000.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.

The latest Accredited Official Statistics on forestry produced by Forest Research were released on 26 September 2024 according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.

Detailed statistics are published in the online publication Forestry Statistics 2024, with an extract in Forestry Facts & Figures 2024. They include UK statistics on woodland area, planting, timber, trade, carbon, environment, social, employment and finance & prices as well as some statistics on international forestry. Where possible, figures are also provided for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Key findings

The area of woodland in the United Kingdom at 31 March 2024 is estimated to be 3.28 million hectares; 1.44 million hectares (44%) are independently certified as sustainably managed.
20.66 thousand hectares of new woodland were created in the UK in 2023/24.
9.8 million green tonnes of UK roundwood (softwood and hardwood) were delivered to primary wood processors and others in 2023, representing a 3% decrease from the previous year.
Wood products imported into the UK in 2023 were valued at £9.0 billion and included 6.2 million cubic metres of sawnwood, 3.1 million cubic metres of wood-based panels, 6.4 million tonnes of wood pellets and 4.8 million tonnes of paper.
Around three-quarters (74%) of respondents to the UK Public Opinion of Forestry Survey 2023 had visited forests or woodlands in the last few years. Of those, 22% reported an increase in the number of visits in the last 12 months.
The Business Register and Employment Survey reported average employment in 2022 of 21 thousand in forestry.
Gross Value added (GVA) in primary wood processing (sawmilling, panels and pulp & paper) was £2.42 billion in the UK in 2022. GVA in forestry was £0.68 billion.
The UK was the second-largest net importer (imports less exports) of forest products in 2022, behind China.

Chapters

PDFs of individual chapters can be downloaded from the chapter landing pages linked below:

Forestry Facts & Figures 2024

Forestry Facts & Figures 2024 can be downloaded or a hard copy ordered (free) online.

Accompanying data sets

The tables within each chapter (including data for charts) are available on the landing page for each chapter. Longer time series (for some topics) are available to download in spreadsheet format from Time Series

Details

Coverage: United Kingdom

Geographical breakdown: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

Statistician: Dan Braby

Contact:

Tel: 0300 067 5238

Email: statistics@forestresearch.gov.uk

Next update: 25 September 2025

Pre-release access: Information on pre-release access to this publication can be found at Pre-Release Access to Official Statistics.

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