Forest holdings (6.1)
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| Figure 6.1. The share of forest land area by forest ownership
category, 2010.
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Finnish forestry is mainly in the hands of families, and the properties
are mainly quite small. Private forest owners own 12 million
hectares of forest land; the State, 5 million hectares; companies
2 million hectares; and others (municipalities, parishes and other
public corporations) own 1 million hectares of forest land.
In private forests, the number of forest property entities32 of over
2 hectares is about 375,000, and the total number of owners of
these entities, including the stakeholders of estates and partnerships,
is almost 737,000. Some 74% of private forests are
family-owned. The average size of a forest property entity is 30
hectares. The average size has not changed in recent years, but
the size distribution has changed so that the number of both
small (less than 10 hectares) and large (over 200 hectares) properties
has increased.
Two kinds of structural changes take place in forest ownership:
changes amongst owner groups and internal changes within a
group. Changes amongst owner groups have been very small,
and have generally involved the purchase of holdings. Some
forests change hands through the exchange of land or, in the
acquisition of conservation areas, also by expropriation by the
government.
Changes within a group of forest owners mainly happen in the
private forestry sector. The most characteristic features are the
slow pace of change of forest property ownership and the aging
of the forest owners – the average age of forest owners is
60 years, and pensioners are the largest single group of forest
owners.
Regional differences in the structure of forest ownership are
high. The share of State-owned forests increases towards the
north and east, whereas private ownership is more common in
the southern parts of the country. For this reason, the importance
of private forests in terms of roundwood production is higher
than might be concluded from their share of the total area.
Moreover, a higher share of State forests are protected.
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32 The number of forest property entities includes forest properties owned by
the same forest owner across the country. |
