The chart above shows the proportion of each state that is wooded area. Four US states and one EU state have over three-quarters of their land covered in wood.
Findings
- The difference between the state with the greatest proportion of wooded area, Maine, and the state with the least, Malta, is 88.38 percentage points.
- Maine has 82.08 times the wooded area as a proportion of the state that Malta does.
- The difference between the US state with the greatest proportion of wooded area, Maine, and the EU state with the greatest, Finland, is 13.72 percentage points.
- Maine has 1.18 times the wooded area as a proportion of the state that Finland does.
- The difference between the state with the largest absolute value of wooded area, Alaska, and the state with the least, Malta, is 128,576,140 acres (52,032,900 hectares).
- Alaska has 149,508.10 times the wooded area that Malta does.
- The median proportion of wooded area in the 28 EU states is 35.25% and the mean 37.68%.
- The median proportion of wooded area in the 50 US states is 42.13% and the mean 43.10%.
- The median proportion of wooded area in the 78 EU and US states is 39.84% and the mean 41.16%.
- The median wooded area acreage in the 28 EU states is 7,087,450 (2,868,190 hectares) and the mean 15,912,820 (6,439,690 hectares).
- The median wooded area acreage in the 50 US states is 15,092,000 (6,107,516 hectares) and the mean 16,376,320 (6,627,262 hectares).
- The median wooded area acreage in the 78 EU and US states is 12,313,500 (4,983,097 hectares) and the mean 16,209,940 (6,559,930 hectares).
Caveats
- EU data is from 2010, US data is from 2016.
- EU and US data come from different sources.
- EU data was converted from hectares to acres.
- All figures are rounded to the nearest hundredth.
Details
Alaska's wooded area accounts for 10.17% of the total wooded area in the EU and US. It, with Sweden, Spain, and Texas make up over one-fourth of the wooded area in the EU and US at 26.45%. Adding in Finland and France accounts for over one-third of the wooded area in the EU and US at 34.30%. These with eight other states (California, Oregon, Germany, Italy, Montana, New Mexico, Georgia, and Poland) account for half the wooded area in the two superstates at 51.35%.
Alaska's wooded area is larger than the total size of all but three states. Only France, Texas, and Alaska itself have more total area than the wooded area of Alaska.
Twenty-eight states (7 EU, 21 US) have wooded area account for more than half of their total state area. Only nine states (2 EU, 7 US) have over 67% of their total area covered in woods.
Only six states (1 EU, 5 US) have less than one-tenth of their total area covered in woods.
The European Union as a total is 42.47% covered in wooded area which would place it between Hawaii and Cyprus in the chart above. The United States as a total is 36.22% covered in wooded area which would place it between Italy and Lithuania in the chart above.
Sources
Eurostat. 2020. "Area of Wooded Land." Accessed September 25, 2020. https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-096393_QID_-37710D6F_UID_-3F171EB0&layout=TIME,C,X,0;GEO,L,Y,0;UNIT,L,Z,0;INDIC_FO,L,Z,1;INDICATORS,C,Z,2;&zSelection=DS-096393INDICATORS,OBS_FLAG;DS-096393UNIT,THS_HA;DS-096393INDIC_FO,FOWL;&rankName1=UNIT_1_2_-1_2&rankName2=INDICATORS_1_2_-1_2&rankName3=INDIC-FO_1_2_-1_2&rankName4=TIME_1_0_0_0&rankName5=GEO_1_2_0_1&sortC=ASC_-1_FIRST&rStp=&cStp=&rDCh=&cDCh=&rDM=true&cDM=true&footnes=false&empty=false&wai=false&time_mode=NONE&time_most_recent=false&lang=EN&cfo=%23%23%23%2C%23%23%23.%23%23%23.
United States Department of Agriculture. 2016. "Forest Inventory and Analysis: Fiscal Year 2016 Business Report." Accessed September 24, 2020. https://www.fs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/fs_media/fs_document/publication-15817-usda-forest-service-fia-annual-report-508.pdf.