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