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Private forest owners - family forests
predominate
As in other countries in western Europe, forests in Finland are
mainly owned by private people and families. In the principal
growth area, southern and central Finland, about 3/4 of all forests are in private ownership, and in some areas in southern Finland
the percentage can exceed 90%. State forests are for the
most part situated in northern and eastern Finland.
Private forestry is in fact the linchpin of the Finnish forest economy,
as the growing stock volume, annual increment and fellings
in private forests each account for between 64% and 83% of
the total. Private forests produce over 80% of the roundwood
purchased annually by the forest industry in Finland.
Forest land, growing stock, annual increment and commercial harvesting by forest ownership category. |
|
Forest land area % |
Growing stock volume on forest and low productive forest land % |
Annual increment on forest and low productive forest land % |
Commercial roundwood removals % |
Forest ownership category |
2004–2008 |
2004–2008 |
2004–2008 |
2000–2009 |
Private |
60 |
64 |
73 1 |
83 1 |
State |
26 |
21 |
272 |
9 |
Companies |
9 |
9 |
.. |
8 |
Other (municipalities, parishes, associations and societies) |
5 |
6 |
.. |
.. |
| 1private + other
2state + companies |
Source: Statistical Yearbook of Forestry 2009
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Old and young generation of the family thinking on the
management of their own forest property. |
Some 74% of private forests are family-owned. The average size
of holdings is 30 hectares. There are 375,000 forest property entities
of over two hectares. There are more forest owners than
there are holdings, because spouses often have joint ownership
of a holding. As estates and pools have an average of four
partners, the number of people owning at least two hectares
of forest is estimated to be about 737,000. In other words, one
out of every eight Finns is a forest owner.
The fact that forests remain in the hands of families, passed on in
inheritance from one generation to the next, is an indication of
the predominance of rural habitation. With sweeping structural
changes in society, however, the composition of forest owners is
also changing, becoming urbanised. About 56% of forest owners
live in sparsely populated areas and 44% in built-up areas,
towns and cities. The number of forest owners is also growing,
as holdings are split up in conjunction with the distribution of
estates. Today, the largest single socio-economic group among
private forest owners (about 45%) are pensioners.
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