Finnish Forests

Finland is one of the world’s most wooded countries and the most wooded country in Europe. 71.6% of Finland’s area is forest, Next come Japan (61.8%) and Sweden (56%).  

Of the Nordic countries, Finland has the most forest per inhabitant at 4.6 ha. Sweden has 2.9 ha, Norway 1.6 ha and Denmark only 0.08 ha.

The total area of Finland’s forests is 26.3 million ha, 20.3 million ha of which is good forest land from a perspective of forestry (additional growth more than 1 m³/ha/year). Of the total area of forests, swamp covers 9.1 million ha. (34%), 4.9 million ha of which has been drained.

Finland’s forests belong to the northern coniferous forest belt, which stretches across the Northern Hemisphere from Alaska, through Siberia to Kamchatka in the Far East. The coniferous forest belt includes 40% of the world’s forests. Only a few species of tree grow in the belt. The tree line runs through northern Utsjoki and Enontekiö, and to the north of that lies the treeless tundra.