Forest and tree cover, official
25.2%
of land area, 2023; target 33%
Very dense forest
3.0%
of land area, 2023
Tree cover lost, 2001–2024
2.31 Mha
7.1% of 2000 cover, satellite data
On paper India’s forests are growing: official surveys show green cover rising to a quarter of the country. Satellites tell a second story. India has lost 2.3 million hectares of tree cover since 2001, old natural forests in the north-east and central India are giving way to mines, roads and farms, and much of the ‘gain’ is plantations.
The official count
Officially, India’s forests are growing slowly, but most of the cover is thin
Forest and tree cover by canopy density, % of geographical area, 2023
The State of Forest Report 2023 counts 21.76% of India as forest cover and a further 3.41% as trees outside forests, a total of 25.17%, up 1,445 sq km since 2021. But only 3% of the country is very dense forest. ‘Forest cover’ means any patch of one hectare or more with at least 10% tree canopy, whatever the trees and whoever owns the land, so orchards, tea gardens and plantations count.
Source: Forest Survey of India, ISFR 2023, via ClearIAS. Tree cover share computed from 1,12,014 sq km of 32,87,263 sq km.
Among peers
India and China have added forest area; Indonesia and Brazil have lost it
Forest area, % of land area, 1990–2023. Tap or hover a line.
On the FAO’s measure, India’s forest area rose from 21.5% of land in 1990 to 24.5% in 2023, and Vietnam’s and China’s rose faster. Indonesia and Brazil cleared tropical forest on a vast scale. India’s rise is modest, and it measures area, not the age or richness of what stands on it.
Source: FAO Forest Resources Assessment via World Bank WDI (AG.LND.FRST.ZS).
The satellite count
Satellites show steady loss of natural forest
Global Forest Watch estimates for India, 2001–2024
India lost 2.31 million hectares of tree cover between 2001 and 2024, 7.1% of what stood in 2000, and 348,000 hectares of humid primary forest, the oldest and most carbon-rich. Over 2000–2020 it also gained 1.78 million hectares of tree cover, including plantations. Net figures can rise while natural forest shrinks. FAO data put India second in the world for deforestation in 2015–2020, at 668,000 hectares a year.
Source: Global Forest Watch (University of Maryland), via Drishti IAS (June 2025); FAO.
Where it is going
Three lakh hectares of forest land were handed over for projects in fifteen years
Forest land approved for non-forest use, 2008–09 to 2022–23, thousand hectares, by purpose
About 3.06 lakh hectares of forest land were diverted across 17,301 projects. Of the purposes itemised, mining took the most, followed by roads, irrigation and power lines. Compensatory afforestation was ‘taken up’ on over 9 lakh hectares, but how much of it survived as forest is not reported, and planting saplings elsewhere does not replace an old forest’s soil, water and wildlife.
Source: Ministry of Environment, Lok Sabha replies, via Factly. ‘Other uses’ covers purposes not itemised in the source.
The north-east
The most forested region is losing cover while the country gains
Change in forest cover, sq km, 2021–2023, selected states
The eight north-eastern states lost 327 sq km of forest cover in two years, even as India as a whole gained 156 sq km. Nagaland, Tripura and Assam lost most; Mizoram gained. Shifting cultivation, logging and road building are the main drivers, and they fall on some of India’s richest forests.
Source: ISFR 2023 via EastMojo; ClearIAS.
Contested numbers
Three numbers that need a second look
Source: Forest Survey of India; Global Forest Watch; Ministry of Environment; Constitutional Conduct Group via The Wire.
