The most heavily forested country in Europe

• 78% of Finland’s total area is forestry land and 10% is covered by waterways.
• Using the national definition, i.e. the 10th National forest inventory (2004-2008), Finland has 20.1 million hectares of forest land, while according to the FAO definition the figure is 22.1 million hectares. In other words, there are four hectares per inhabitant. The European mean is 1.3 hectares.
• There are almost one million forest owners in Finland, which means that one in five citizens owns forest land.
• The state owns approximately one third of the forests.
• The forest industry is one of the cornerstones of the national economy. Its annual turnover is approximately 20 billion euros, which corresponds to 27 percent of net exports.
• Since the beginning of the 1950s, the mean annual growth has increased by 80 percent and the forest reserves by 43 percent. In 2008, the annual growth was 99 million cubic metres. The forest resources also continue to increase. In 2008 removals represented 70 percent of the annual growth.
• The forests in Finland are dominated by coniferous trees. Of the total amount of timber resources, 50 percent is Scots pine and 30 percent is Norway spruce. Of the broadleaved trees, birch is predominant, representing 16 percent of the timber resources.

Forest - The Landscape of Finnish Soul (wmv, 21,9 MB)
Finns tend their forests (wmv, 8.4 MB)
Finland makes versatile use of its forests (wmv, 10.1 MB)
Finns are well-versed in their forests (wmv, 9.4 MB)