Forest

Estonia is one of the most forested countries in the world. Forests cover nearly half of the mainland in Estonia. The forests here stand out with an abundance of species, preserved thanks to a large proportion of naturally renewed forests and few alien tree species. Forest areas are important in the carbon cycle, binding carbon from the atmosphere in woody plants and forest soil.

Wood is an increasingly important source of renewable energy, valued raw material and building material. Wood is used to make doors, windows, houses and furniture, which are sold on the domestic market and exported to other countries. 

Forest statistics provide information about

  • the size of Estonia’s forest resources;
  • the annual increment of stands;
  • the area of forest land in Estonia;
  • the share of protected forest land;
  • the annual volume of felling.

Based on forest statistics, it is possible to assess how viable and productive are Estonian forests and how well the state ensures their renewal and preservation.

European Forest Accounts were compiled as a development work in December 2024 regarding reference year 2022. Results and overview can be seen in the methodological report and tables. The development work  has been co-financed by Eurostat grant  for developing environmental accounts (101113157 — 2022-EE-EGD).

Gross felling based on national forest inventory (nfi) 11.74 million m³
-2.82%
2023
Total area of clear felling based on NFI 32.0 thousand hectares
-1.8%
2023
Carbon storage in wooden biomass on forest land 150.26 million tonnes
-0.74%
Area of forest land 2.35 million ha
0.70%
2024
Total growing stock of stands 452.75 million m³
-0.21%
2024
Increment of stand volume per year 7.2 m³/ha
-1.4%
2024
Territory covered by forest 51.6 %
2024
Share of strictly protected forests in total forest land area 18.4 %
2023
Relative error of felling outturn 10.1 %
2023
Forest resources based on national forest inventory | 2005–2024
Share of strictly protected forests in total forest land area | 2004–2023
Share of forest annual fellings in net annual increment | 2004–2016
Gross felling based on national forest inventory | 2004 – 2023
Unit: m³/ha
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Total felling 110 118 105 109 104 104 115 105 121 115 132 130 146 153 146 127 121 115 120 107
Regeneration felling 212 258 264 262 242 223 237 243 266 248 252 242 263 273 276 262 253 267 278 266
Maintenance felling 67 62 51 48 48 46 44 39 40 43 44 44 45 45 46 42 43 36 39 39
Other felling 25 64 43 40 12 22 31 35 54 41 50 30 38 49 32 29 20 23 31 26

Area of forests, area of stands | 2005 – 2024
Unit: thousand ha
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Area of forest and other wooded land 2,271 2,269 2,265 2,229 2,217 2,222 2,235 2,250 2,269 2,296 2,311 2,314 2,331 2,331 2,333 2,326 2,326 2,325 2,334 2,351
Area of stands 2,107 2,114 2,117 2,083 2,071 2,081 2,090 2,102 2,116 2,136 2,147 2,143 2,158 2,149 2,142 2,121 2,118 2,111 2,122 2,136

Carbon storage in wooden biomass on forest land by dominant tree species | 1994 – 2023
Unit: thousand tons
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Pine 42,230 42,786 43,341 43,897 44,453 45,579 49,261 47,178 47,379 46,940 49,348 49,313 51,575 54,015 54,764 55,150 55,238 55,232 55,826 57,137 58,411 58,690 58,207 57,587 56,898 56,499 55,008 54,210 53,195 52,235
Spruce 25,569 25,905 26,242 26,578 26,915 26,451 28,825 28,861 28,497 28,545 28,909 28,548 28,323 27,710 27,631 27,078 27,739 28,368 28,727 29,391 30,817 31,042 31,923 32,474 32,219 31,830 31,302 30,014 29,034 28,422
Birch 36,182 36,658 37,134 37,610 38,086 38,193 39,764 40,104 40,128 40,470 40,458 40,618 39,861 39,645 39,584 40,988 42,133 44,335 45,177 45,751 45,142 45,612 45,246 45,488 44,873 45,019 44,260 43,675 43,373 43,574
Aspen 7,307 7,403 7,499 7,595 7,691 9,221 8,261 8,298 8,299 8,058 7,833 7,765 7,701 7,616 7,715 7,847 7,917 8,215 8,153 8,283 8,184 8,336 8,533 8,849 8,889 9,079 9,115 8,884 8,869 9,069
Common alder 3,664 3,712 3,761 3,809 3,857 3,488 3,940 4,138 3,840 4,142 4,271 4,212 4,037 4,311 4,461 4,576 4,598 4,930 5,138 5,224 5,146 5,465 5,572 5,721 5,571 5,584 5,524 5,452 5,423 5,498

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