According to Mongabay, deforestation trends have been higher in the past decade due to a growing demand for several things. As the population grows, so too does the need for more lumber, more fuel, more food, and more space. This increase is due to agricultural conversion and an increased demand for logging.

Deforestation in the United States was an ongoing process until recently. Between 2010 and 2020, the US forests increased 0.03% annually, according to FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations).

According to the FAO, Nigeria has the world’s highest deforestation rate of primary forests. It has lost more than half of its primary forest in the last five years. Causes cited are logging, subsistence agriculture, and the collection of fuel wood.

1: Deforestation on the rise. However, since 2013, official deforestation rates have been on an upward trend, worsening in the last two years1. In 2019, 10,129 km2 of forest was clear-cut, an increase of 34% compared to 2018 (7,536 km2).

The world has lost one-third of its forest – an area twice the size of the United States. Only 10% of this was lost in the first half of this period, until 5,000 years ago. The global population at this time was small and growing very slowly – there were fewer than 50 million people in the world.

Countries With the Highest Deforestation Rates in the World

• Honduras. Historically many parts of this country were covered by trees with 50% of the land not covered by forests.
• Nigeria. Trees used to cover approximately 50% of the land in this country.
• The Philippines.
• Benin.
• Ghana.
• Indonesia.
• Nepal.
• North Korea.

Russia

Suriname

The Amazon is the world’s largest rainforest. The Amazon rainforest, which includes parts of nine countries and covers nearly 40% of South America, accounts for just over half the primary forests found across the tropics.

The largest rainforests in the world

1. Amazon Rainforest. Size: 5,500,000km2
2. Congolese Rainforest. Size: 1,780,000km2
3. New Guinea Rainforest. Size: 288,000km2
4. Valdivian Temperate Rainforest.
5. Heart of Borneo.
6. Pacific Temperate Rainforest.
7. Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra.
8. Eastern Australian Temperate Forests.

Out of the 6 million square miles (15 million square kilometers) of tropical rainforest that once existed worldwide, only 2.4 million square miles (6 million square km) remain, and only 50 percent, or 75 million square acres (30 million hectares), of temperate rainforests still exists, according to The Nature …

The Amazon Rainforest

The World’s 12 Most Beautiful Rainforests

• Appalachian Rainforest (United States)
• Harapan (Indonesia)
• North Western Ghats (India)
• Vancouver Island (Canada)
• Primorsky Krai (Siberia, Russia)
• Monteverde (Costa Rica)
• Amazon Rainforest (South America)
• Tongass National Forest (United States)

#5 The tropical rainforest in Congo It is currently around 1,780,000 square kilometres in size, making it the second largest rainforest in the world.