Countries With the Fastest Decline in Forest area (5-Year Change)

Name: Countries With the Fastest Decline in Forest area (5-Year Change)
Creator: The World Bank
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Change in Forest area over the five years to each country's latest year, as a percentage of the earlier value. Only countries that fell are listed. Source: The World Bank (CC BY 4.0).

Summary

Nicaragua fell the most: by 37%, from 49,356 km² to 31,075 km² in the five years to 2023. Cambodia is second (−19.6%), followed by Burkina Faso (−15.6%). 80 countries fell over that period; the median change among them was −1.67%.

#1: Nicaragua · −37%
Median: −1.67%
Coverage: 80 countries
Data year: 2025
Last updated: 2026-11-14

Top 10: 5-year change (%). Bar chart of the top 10: 1. Nicaragua -37; 2. Cambodia -19.6; 3. Burkina Faso -15.6; 4. Chad -15; 5. Gambia, The -13.5; 6. Côte d'Ivoire -9.67; 7. Malawi -9.37; 8. Somalia, Fed. Rep. -7.29; 9. Guinea -6.45; 10. Madagascar -5.89.

Full ranking

Countries With the Fastest Decline in Forest area (5-Year Change), 2025
Rank	Country	From	To	5-year change (%)
1	Nicaragua	49,356	31,075	−37%
2	Cambodia	78,768	63,332	−19.6%
3	Burkina Faso	38,363	32,370	−15.6%
4	Chad	42,509	36,113	−15%
5	Gambia, The	2,421	2,095	−13.5%
6	Côte d'Ivoire	41,782	37,741	−9.67%
7	Malawi	22,417	20,317	−9.37%
8	Somalia, Fed. Rep.	52,095	48,298	−7.29%
9	Guinea	51,923	48,573	−6.45%
10	Madagascar	105,430	99,221	−5.89%
11	Puerto Rico (US)	4,621	4,361	−5.64%
12	Benin	33,202	31,333	−5.63%
13	Uganda	25,082	23,677	−5.6%
14	Paraguay	151,160	142,970	−5.42%
15	Tanzania	457,450	434,000	−5.13%
16	Myanmar	285,440	270,950	−5.08%
17	Mali	109,820	104,790	−4.58%
18	Iraq	7,256	6,926	−4.55%
19	Honduras	61,124	58,613	−4.11%
20	Antigua and Barbuda	81.2	77.9	−4.06%
21	Mozambique	335,780	322,430	−3.98%
22	Seychelles	276.1	265.2	−3.95%
23	Sierra Leone	25,349	24,363	−3.89%
24	Angola	658,120	632,620	−3.87%
25	Sudan	228,510	219,800	−3.81%
26	Nigeria	177,640	171,300	−3.57%
27	Thailand	203,380	196,470	−3.4%
28	Brazil	5,023,700	4,860,900	−3.24%
29	Liberia	65,294	63,265	−3.11%
30	Cameroon	197,280	191,430	−2.97%
31	Belize	13,527	13,151	−2.78%
32	Niger	10,797	10,551	−2.28%
33	Peru	686,560	671,600	−2.18%
34	Bolivia	555,690	543,700	−2.16%
35	Eritrea	14,719	14,420	−2.03%
36	Argentina	474,960	465,980	−1.89%
37	Zimbabwe	140,310	137,660	−1.89%
38	Guatemala	36,016	35,357	−1.83%
39	Equatorial Guinea	24,484	24,066	−1.71%
40	Eswatini	4,406	4,331	−1.7%
41	Tunisia	6,990	6,875	−1.65%
42	Bhutan	27,172	26,747	−1.56%
43	Malaysia	191,850	188,850	−1.56%
44	North Macedonia	10,423	10,261	−1.55%
45	Samoa	1,622	1,598	−1.48%
46	Lao PDR	132,130	130,360	−1.34%
47	Vanuatu	9,194	9,074	−1.3%
48	Ecuador	124,610	123,100	−1.21%
49	Sri Lanka	21,454	21,207	−1.15%
50	Colombia	601,230	594,570	−1.11%
51	Zambia	453,600	448,740	−1.07%
52	Congo, Dem. Rep.	1,406,000	1,391,900	−1%
53	Guinea-Bissau	21,208	20,996	−1%
54	Mexico	669,040	662,660	−0.954%
55	Trinidad and Tobago	2,282	2,261	−0.929%
56	Senegal	87,270	86,493	−0.89%
57	Libya	2,070	2,053	−0.807%
58	Moldova	3,732	3,703	−0.777%
59	Suriname	147,650	146,740	−0.616%
60	Venezuela, RB	473,350	470,880	−0.522%
61	Central African Republic	453,270	450,950	−0.512%
62	Cyprus	1,725	1,717	−0.487%
63	Timor-Leste	10,586	10,543	−0.406%
64	Dominica	575.7	573.5	−0.382%
65	Panama	46,297	46,146	−0.326%
66	Korea, Rep.	62,980	62,791	−0.3%
67	Bangladesh	18,784	18,734	−0.266%
68	Guyana	184,150	183,770	−0.206%
69	Algeria	16,947	16,914	−0.195%
70	Solomon Islands	25,176	25,139	−0.147%
71	Gabon	235,890	235,550	−0.144%
72	Chile	181,860	181,620	−0.132%
73	United States	3,092,600	3,089,000	−0.116%
74	Norway	121,210	121,090	−0.099%
75	Ethiopia	267,670	267,470	−0.075%
76	Papua New Guinea	340,480	340,290	−0.056%
77	Japan	249,190	249,080	−0.044%
78	Namibia	80,462	80,430	−0.04%
79	Slovenia	12,438	12,436	−0.016%
80	Canada	3,688,700	3,688,200	−0.014%