Which country in Africa has the most forest?

Gabon has the most forest in Africa: 91% forest (2023). Next come Equatorial Guinea (86% forest) and Liberia (78% forest).

What is the typical forest area of a country in Africa?

The median of the 54 countries in Africa is 22% forest: half are above it, half below. The median, not the average, because a few countries at the top would drag an average far above almost everyone.

Where do the figures come from?

The share of the land under forest: natural or planted stands of trees at least five metres tall, whether productive or not. Source: World Bank, 2023. Only independent states are ranked; territories are listed separately. A country’s continent follows Natural Earth; the handful of island states it files under the open ocean are placed by their UN subregion.

Countries in Africa by forest area

The share of the land under forest: natural or planted stands of trees at least five metres tall, whether productive or not. 54 countries in Africa, highest first. World Bank, 2023

See it on the map

Map: Forest area — Africa — 3%**12%24%35%46%58%**No data

Highest

91%

Gabon

Median country

22%

half above, half below

Lowest

Egypt

Countries in Africa by forest area, World Bank, 2023
#	Country	% of land	Region
1	Gabon	91%	Middle Africa
2	Equatorial Guinea	86%	Middle Africa
3	Liberia	78%	Western Africa
4	Seychelles	73%	Eastern Africa
5	Guinea-Bissau	70%	Western Africa
6	Congo	64%	Middle Africa
7	Zambia	60%	Eastern Africa
8	DR Congo	54%	Middle Africa
=9	Angola	52%	Middle Africa
=9	São Tomé and Principe	52%	Middle Africa
11	Tanzania	50%	Eastern Africa
12	Mozambique	46%	Eastern Africa
13	Zimbabwe	45%	Eastern Africa
14	Cameroon	43%	Middle Africa
15	Senegal	41%	Western Africa
16	Central African Republic	36%	Middle Africa
17	Ghana	35%	Western Africa
18	Sierra Leone	34%	Western Africa
19	Eswatini	29%	Southern Africa
20	Benin	27%	Western Africa
21	Botswana	26%	Southern Africa
22	Guinea	25%	Western Africa
23	Nigeria	23%	Western Africa
24	Malawi	22%	Eastern Africa
25	Gambia	22%	Western Africa
26	Burkina Faso	22%	Western Africa
27	Togo	22%	Western Africa
28	Madagascar	21%	Eastern Africa
29	Mauritius	20%	Eastern Africa
30	Comoros	17%	Eastern Africa
31	Ethiopia	15%	Eastern Africa
32	South Africa	14%	Southern Africa
33	Morocco	13%	Northern Africa
34	Cabo Verde	12%	Western Africa
=35	Rwanda	11%	Eastern Africa
=35	South Sudan	11%	Eastern Africa
37	Uganda	11%	Eastern Africa
=38	Burundi	11%	Eastern Africa
=38	Mali	11%	Western Africa
40	Sudan	10%	Northern Africa
41	Somalia	9%	Eastern Africa
42	Eritrea	9%	Eastern Africa
43	Côte d'Ivoire	8%	Western Africa
44	Namibia	8%	Southern Africa
45	Kenya	6%	Eastern Africa
46	Tunisia	5%	Northern Africa
47	Chad	3%	Middle Africa
48	Lesotho	1%	Southern Africa
=49	Algeria	1%	Northern Africa
=49	Niger	1%	Western Africa
=51	Djibouti	0%	Eastern Africa
=51	Mauritania	0%	Western Africa
53	Libya	0%	Northern Africa
54	Egypt	0%	Northern Africa

Questions

Which country in Africa has the most forest?: Gabon has the most forest in Africa: 91% forest (2023). Next come Equatorial Guinea (86% forest) and Liberia (78% forest).
Which country in Africa has the least forest?: Egypt, with 0% forest (2023).
What is the typical forest area of a country in Africa?: The median of the 54 countries in Africa is 22% forest: half are above it, half below. The median, not the average, because a few countries at the top would drag an average far above almost everyone.
Where do the figures come from?: The share of the land under forest: natural or planted stands of trees at least five metres tall, whether productive or not. Source: World Bank, 2023. Only independent states are ranked; territories are listed separately. A country’s continent follows Natural Earth; the handful of island states it files under the open ocean are placed by their UN subregion.

Source: World Bank (CC BY 4.0). Figures older than five years are left out rather than shown beside current ones. Countries sharing a value share a rank. All sources.