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Forestry Statistics 2007 - Woodland Areas and Planting

Area of woodland: changes over time
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The 2.8 million hectares of woodland in the UK represents 11.7% of the total land area; this percentage ranges from 6.4% in Northern Ireland to 17.2% in Scotland.

Table 1.2 Woodland area in the United Kingdom

Year

England
Scotland
Wales
Northern Ireland2UK

Area
(000 ha)

%1

Area
(000 ha)

%1

Area
(000 ha)

%1

Area
(000 ha)

%1

Area
(000 ha)

%1

1086

~15

c1350

~10

~4

17thC

~8

~4

~1.5

1905

681

5.2

351

4.5

88

4.2

15

1.1

1 140

4.7

1924

660

5.1

435

5.6

103

5.0

13

1.0

1 211

5.0

1947

755

5.8

513

6.6

128

6.2

23

1.8

1 419

5.8

1965

886

6.8

656

8.4

201

9.7

42

3.1

1 784

7.3

1980

948

7.3

920

11.8

241

11.6

67

4.9

2 175

9.0

1995-99

1 097

8.4

1 281

16.4

287

13.8

81

6.0

2 746

11.3

20073

1 124

8.6

1 341

17.2

285

13.7

87

6.4

2 837

11.7

Not National Statistics.

Source: Forestry Commission, Forest Service.

Notes:

1. Percentage of the total surface area including inland water. The total surface areas, including inland water, taken from the Annual Abstract of Statistics 2002 (published by the Office for National Statistics) are:

England

13 042 000 hectares

Scotland

7 813 000 hectares

Wales

2 078 000 hectares

Northern Ireland

1 358 000 hectares

United Kingdom

24 291 000 hectares

2. For Northern Ireland, 17th century figure is estimate for all Ireland, 1905 figure is estimate for Ulster 1908, 1947 figure assumes no change from 1939-40 Census.

3. Non-FC woodland figures for 2007 for England, Scotland and Wales are based on the 1995-99 National Inventory of Woodland and Trees (NIWT) and adjusted for new planting and sales of FC woodland, but at present no adjustment is made for woodland converted to another land-use.