Chapter XXXIII Forest Area of the World
Exclusive of the forests of China, Corea and parts of Africa and South America, for which there are no available data, the forest area of the world is approximately 3,800,000,000 acres.
The forests of Europe total upwards of 750,000,000 or, roughly speaking, about 31 per cent. of the total land area of the Continent; whilst among non-European countries Canada comes first with 799,000,000 acres, United States, 545,000,000, tropical South America 528,000,000, Asiatic Russia 348,000,000, and Central Africa 224,000,000.
Finland is, perhaps, the best wooded country in the world, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Sweden coming next, whilst amongst the least wooded areas are Great Britain and Portugal, the former including only about 4 per cent. of the total area of the land.
So far as is at present known the following are the approximate areas of woodlands in the various countries of the world:—
| Country. | Total Forest Area. |
| (Acres.) | |
| Russia— | |
| European Russia | 461,611,000 |
| Finland | 52,500,000 |
| Austria-Hungary— | |
| Austria | 23,996,000 |
| Hungary | 18,692,000 |
| Croatia and Slavonia | 3,769,000 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 6,380,000 |
| Sweden | 49,390,000 |
| Germany | 34,990,000 |
| France | 24,021,000 |
| Norway | 16,848,000 |
| Spain | 16,065,000 |
| Italy | 10,115,000 |
| Bulgaria | 7,603,000 |
| Roumania | 6,367,000 |
| British Isles | 3,071,361 |
| Switzerland | 2,140,000 |
| Belgium | 1,304,000 |
| Servia | 3,865,000 |
| Other Countries | 4,427,000 |
| 747,154,361 | |
| Asiatic Russia | 348,030,000 |
| India | 149,000,000 |
| Ceylon | 6,763,000 |
| Japan | 57,718,000 |
| Philippine Islands | 49,000,000 |
| British Australasia | 126,720,000 |
| Cape Colony, Natal, Swaziland and Transvaal | 641,000 |
| Madagascar | 25,000,000 |
| Barbary States | 9,527,000 |
| Central Africa | 224,000,000 |
| South America (tropical) | 528,000,000 |
| West Indies | 42,669,000 |
| Canada | 799,360,000 |
| Mexico | 25,000,000 |
| Alaska | 107,000,000 |
| United States of America | 545,000,000 |
| Other Countries including the Straits | |
| Settlement, Java, etc. | 6,870,000 |
| 3,050,298,000 |
The approximate area of woodlands in Great Britain and Ireland are:—
| Acres. | |
| England | 1,715,473 |
| Scotland | 868,409 |
| Wales | 184,361 |
| Ireland | 303,118 |
| 3,071,361 |