Top 10 Countries with Widest Forests

#1: Russia (3,147,000 sq mi of forest)

Russia’s vast landmass of 6,612,100 sq mi includes an awe‑inspiring 3,147,000 sq mi of forest, making it the world’s most heavily tree‑covered nation. These boreal woodlands—known as the taiga—stretch over 4,000 mi from Europe into Asia, forming the planet’s largest terrestrial biome. Towering larch, spruce, and pine dominate, adapted to survive subzero winters that can plunge below –50 °F. Beneath the spring thaw, permafrost retreats, rivers swell, and vast swaths of bog release intoxicating aromas of moss and wildflowers.

Indigenous communities like the Evenki and Nenets have lived in harmony with these forests for millennia, mastering reindeer herding routes along taiga rivers and harvesting pine‑needle tea believed to ward off scurvy. During the Soviet era, the “Virgin Lands Campaign” cleared grasslands for agriculture, yet the taiga remained largely intact—partly due to its remoteness and partly through deliberate conservation of timber for naval masts under Peter the Great. Today, Russia’s State Forest Committee oversees sustainable logging in designated zones, balancing timber exports—accounting for 20 percent of global softwood trade—with habitat protection.

Hidden within are natural marvels: Siberia’s “Yakutia Forest” holds the record for the world’s oldest living trees—larches over 1,000 years old—while the Himalayan taiga on Russia’s southern borders shelters the endangered Siberian musk deer. Kamchatka’s volcanic terrain hosts unique thermal forests where alder and birch grow amid steaming vents. The Russian Far East’s Sikhote‑Alin Range blends temperate and boreal species, sheltering Amur tigers whose cheetah‑like stealth belies their royal title.

Climate change poses profound risks: permafrost thaw accelerates carbon release, and warmer conditions fuel unprecedented wildfires that swept 22 million acres in 2021 alone. In response, Russian scientists deploy satellite monitoring and pilot reforestation projects using drone‑planted saplings—a modern echo of ancient taiga resilience. As Russia’s forests endure, they remind us that the world’s green frontier remains as vital to planetary health as it is to human culture and economy.

#2: Brazil (1,946,000 sq mi of forest)

Brazil’s 3,287,000 sq mi accommodate roughly 1,946,000 sq mi of forest—making it the planet’s second‑largest forest holder, dominated by the Amazon Basin. This tropical rainforest, covering over two‑thirds of Brazil’s territory, houses one‑tenth of the world’s known species, including pink river dolphins, harpy eagles, and the elusive jaguar. Persistent rains falling on castanheira and rubber trees create a living cathedral where vines drape canopy branches and orchids bloom in hidden clefts.

Pre‑Columbian societies like the Marajoara sculpted pottery intricately decorated with rainforest motifs, evidencing complex Amazon cultures long before European contact. During rubber booms of the late 19th century, Manaus ballooned into an “Amazonian Paris,” its opera house lavishly imported to celebrate rubber wealth—wealth rooted in forest latex. Contemporary Brazil grapples with deforestation driven by cattle ranching and soy cultivation; yet indigenous movements and legal protections established by the 1988 Constitution designate over 290 million acres as indigenous reserves—areas where forest stewardship reflects ancestral guardianship.

Hidden gems lie beyond the Rio Negro’s “Black Water” tributaries. The terra firme forests of Jaú National Park host pink dolphins playing beneath flooded trees, while the Iguaçu Falls—shared with Argentina—thunder past subtropical rainforest rimmed with bromeliads and palms. In the northeast, the Atlantic Forest, once a continuous green belt along coastal Brazil, now survives in fragmented fragments—like São Paulo’s Cantareira State Park, where urban hikers glimpse golden lion tamarins fleeing noisy highways.

Conservationists employ satellite patrols and community‑led “forest guardians” to combat illegal logging and empower sustainable agroforestry. Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) monitors deforestation hotspots in near real‑time, informing international climate negotiations. As global demand for green carbon credits rises, the Amazon’s 100 billion metric tons of stored carbon underscore Brazil’s pivotal role in mitigating climate change, reminding all that the world’s largest tropical forest is both jewel and bulwark for our planet.

#3: Canada (1,336,000 sq mi of forest)

Canada’s 3,855,100 sq mi include 1,336,000 sq mi of forest—spanning boreal, temperate, and coastal zones that form the world’s second‑largest forest area. The boreal belt stretches across the country’s breadth, where black spruce and jack pine thrive in acidic soils left by retreating glaciers. Indigenous Anishinaabe and Cree people used birch bark canoes to navigate lacustrine networks, harvesting maple sap for syrup amid autumn’s golden blaze.

European fur traders mapped Canada’s rivers as tree‑lined highways; modern forest towns like Thunder Bay echo these histories in timber museums preserving 19th‑century logging equipment. Further west, the temperate rainforests of British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest merge massive cedars and hemlocks draped in moss, harboring spirit bears—pale Kermode subspecies whose white fur fed conservation tourism. In Quebec, sugar shack traditions celebrate sugaring season in hardwood groves, blending cultural festivity with sustainable maple production overseen by the Fédération des producteurs acéricoles du Québec.

Hidden glacial erratics shelter intaglio carvings on Manitoulin Island, echoing Indigenous tales of creation tied to forested rocks. In Newfoundland and Labrador, the boreal forest yields edible mushrooms like chanterelles, whose foraging traditions blend Mi’kmaq knowledge with modern culinary trends. Canada’s sustainable forest management certification—endorsed by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)—ensures that one‑third of global boreal logging follows rigorous environmental and social criteria.

Challenges include pest outbreaks like the mountain pine beetle, whose warming‑driven range expansion has killed billions of trees across Western Canada. Research into pheromone traps and biological controls, plus reforestation with resistant strains, illustrate science and silviculture working in tandem. As Canada’s forests face climate‑driven fire seasons intensifying in size and duration, the nation’s $22 billion forestry sector invests in remote‑sensing tools and preventive thinning to protect what remains one of Earth’s greatest green legacies.

#4: United States (1,197,000 sq mi of forest)

The United States, covering 3,797,000 sq mi, contains approximately 1,197,000 sq mi of forest across biomes from Alaskan taiga to Florida’s subtropical hardwood hammocks. In the Pacific Northwest, the Hoh Rainforest on Olympic Peninsula receives over 140 inches of rain annually, supporting towering Sitka spruce and western hemlock that inspired Ancestral Coast Quilts in local tribes. The eastern U.S. once bore contiguous hardwood forests; today, fragments like Pennsylvania’s Allegheny National Forest remind us of 19th‑century clear‑cut booms halted by early conservationists such as Gifford Pinchot.

In California, giant sequoias—among the world’s largest trees by volume—rise in groves at 4,000–7,000 ft, their fire‑adapted cones opening under high heat. The National Park Service balances wildfire regimes through prescribed burns, echoing indigenous stewardship practiced for millennia by Karuk and Yurok peoples to reduce underbrush and maintain acorn harvests. The Appalachian Trail traverses 2,200 mi of eastern forests, from Maine’s spruce‑fir summit zone to Georgia’s oak‑hickory woodlands, fostering a hiking culture that celebrated the Smokies’ “land of blue shadows” long before John Muir’s Sierra Club campaigns.

Hidden within U.S. forests are exceptional sites: Oregon’s Drift Creek Falls floats hikers across a 350‑ft gnarled root bridge, and Tennessee’s Lost Sea caverns burrow beneath surface canopy to create America’s largest underground lake. The Forest Service’s 1930s Civilian Conservation Corps projects planted two billion trees, sculpted trails, and built rustic shelters—legacies still frequented by today’s outdoor enthusiasts.

Modern forestry balances timber harvests—supplying 20 percent of global industrial roundwood—with carbon sequestration goals outlined in the 2022 Climate Action Plan. Remote‑sensor networks in the Forest Inventory and Analysis program map species composition and health, guiding adaptive management to address pests like emerald ash borer. As U.S. forests face intensifying wildfire seasons and development pressures, they remain a cornerstone of national identity and environmental resilience.

#5: China (833,000 sq mi of forest)

China’s vast expanse of 3,705,400 sq mi hosts 833,000 sq mi of forest, reflecting decades of ambitious reforestation under initiatives like the “Great Green Wall” which aims to halt expanding deserts along the Gobi’s southern fringe. Historically, the Qin dynasty’s timber demands for the Great Wall depleted correlative woodlands, prompting imperial bans on logging in sacred mountain ranges like Tai Shan and Huangshan—restrictions that preserved ancient cypress groves still revered in Taoist pilgrimage.

Modern China has reversed trends: from 12 percent forest cover in the 1980s, national statistics now cite over 23 percent, thanks to tree‑planting campaigns along the Yangtze and initiatives converting marginal croplands back to forests. The Sichuan Basin’s montane bamboo forests shelter the giant panda, whose population rebounded through targeted habitat corridors linking fragmented reserves. In northeastern Heilongjiang, Siberian tiger habitats reemerge as logging declines, inspiring cross‑border conservation with Russia.

Hidden gems include China’s “stone forest” of Kunming, where karst pinnacles rise above subtropical woodlands—an otherworldly fusion of limestone and greenery that UNESCO protects. In Hainan Island’s Bawangling National Nature Reserve, lowland tropical rainforests yield rare Ladakh mahogany and Daviesia species, while beach‑nesting sea turtles probe dark sands.

China’s forestry sector—now world’s largest planted forest area—balances timber production with ecosystem services. The Natural Forest Protection Program compensates rural communities for reduced logging income via grain and cash subsidies, reflecting an evolving view of forests as ecological infrastructure. Yet challenges remain: afforestation monocultures sometimes replace biodiverse native forests, prompting a shift toward mixed‑species plantings and natural regeneration methods.

As China continues reforestation efforts amid economic growth, its 833,000 sq mi of forest stand as witness to large‑scale environmental policy and the cultural significance attributed to trees—from Confucian respect for ancient cedars to modern aspirations for carbon neutrality by 2060.

#6: Democratic Republic of the Congo (597,000 sq mi of forest)

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) covers 905,350 sq mi, with roughly 597,000 sq mi blanketed by the Congo Basin’s tropical rainforest—the world’s second‑largest after the Amazon. These lowland forests cradle over 10,000 plant species and 1,000 bird species, supporting forest elephants that shape canopy gaps and bonobo habitats studied for primate social insights. Pygmy hunter‑gatherers navigate intricate networks of trails, harvesting bushmeat and medicinal plants guided by generational forest lore.

Colonial exploitation under King Leopold II’s reign devastated forests through rubber quotas enforced by brutality, as chronicled in Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness.” Post‑independence conflicts further disrupted traditional land‑use, yet large tracts persisted in remote regions like the Maringa‑Lopori‑Wamba Landscape—where local cooperative REDD+ projects develop sustainable agroforestry and carbon finance to empower communities.

Hidden within are extraordinary clearings called ecocultural riches: Kahuzi‑Biega National Park’s bamboo groves support eastern lowland gorillas, while Ituri’s Okapi Wildlife Reserve shelters the striped okapi, never depicted outside video game lore until its 20th‑century scientific description. Riverine forests along the Congo River host pools of giant crocodiles and ancient flood‑level palm swamps where indigenous songs mimic sengi courtship calls.

Conservation in the DRC contends with illegal logging and mining pressures, yet partnerships between NGOs and local chiefs promote participatory land management. Satellite imagery guides enforcement against charcoal camps, while traditional tabu zones—community‑declared no‑harvest areas—preserve forest sanctuaries for cultural rituals tied to ancestor veneration.

The DRC’s 597,000 sq mi of forest stand not only as a global biodiversity treasure trove, but also as living confirmation to human resilience—where ancient customs and modern conservation science converge to safeguard Earth’s green glory.

#7: Australia (483,000 sq mi of forest)

Australia’s 2,969,900 sq mi encompass 483,000 sq mi of forest, spanning tropical rainforests in Queensland to temperate eucalypt woodlands in New South Wales. The Daintree Rainforest—2,000 sq mi dating back 180 million years—harbors primitive flora like fan palms and cycad species once widespread across Gondwana. Aboriginal peoples have fire‑managed these forests for at least 60,000 years, using “cool burns” to reduce underbrush and encourage regrowth of edible grasses and yam daisies—a practice now recognized for reducing catastrophic bushfire risk.

In Tasmania, the Tarkine region’s ancient myrtle beech and eucalyptus forests rank among the largest temperate rainforests globally, sheltering the platypus and Tasmanian devil. Further inland, the mulga woodlands of the arid Outback showcase drought‑adapted acacias and spinifex, where Aboriginal dot‑painted seed storage pits reveal sophisticated desert agriculture.

Hidden pockets include the Gondwana Rainforest enclaves of Victoria’s Otway Ranges and New South Wales’ Nightcap National Park—where Antarctic beech trees up to 3,000 years old stand alongside glowworm caves that host bioluminescent larvae. In 2019, record‑breaking bushfires scorched over 18 million hectares, underscoring the urgent need for integrated fire and forest management.

Australia’s forestry industries balance plantation yields—mainly radiata pine and eucalyptus—with native forest reserves. The Regional Forest Agreements govern harvests across 34 million acres, while community groups advocate for additional Great Forest National Park designations to connect fragmented habitat.

As climate shifts intensify drought cycles and cyclone‑driven floods, Australia’s 483,000 sq mi of forest face unprecedented stress. Yet ancient ecological knowledge and innovative land‑care partnerships offer pathways to resilience—reminding us that Australia’s woodlands, shaped over eons, remain vital for biodiversity, carbon storage, and cultural heritage.

#8: Indonesia (347,000 sq mi of forest)

Indonesia’s 735,358 sq mi of islands harbor approximately 347,000 sq mi of forest, from Borneo’s dipterocarp giants to Sumatra’s diverse rainforests. Home to 10 percent of Earth’s tree species, these forests shelter orangutans, Asian elephants, and Sumatran tigers—species imperiled by palm oil expansion and illegal logging. Ancient marooning of Spice Islands merchants led to nutmeg trees hidden in mountain enclaves, shaping 17th‑century colonial geopolitics.

On Sulawesi, Toraja communities carved rice barns—tongkonan—from ironwood harvested in nearby forests, linking architecture to woodland stewardship. In Papua’s Foja Mountains, 200 9 meters of pristine montane forest yielded new frog, bat, and orchid species as recently as 2005—reminders of how much remains unknown.

Conservation zones like Kalimantan’s Heart of Borneo—established in 2007—unite Malaysia and Brunei in transboundary forest protection. Indonesian agroforestry projects integrate rubber and fruit trees within secondary forests, providing income while preserving canopy cover. The nation’s moratorium on new primary forest clearance, first issued in 2011 and periodically renewed, signals commitment to balancing development with forest conservation.

Still, deforestation continues: Indonesia lost 9,400 sq mi of forest between 2001 and 2020. Satellite monitoring by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry supports rapid response to fire detections, particularly during the dry-season haze episodes that choke Southeast Asia. Community‑based ecotourism—like Taman Nasional Gunung Leuser’s village lodges—fuses economic benefit with infant orangutan rescues and jungle guiding, demonstrating grassroots forest guardianship.

Indonesia’s 347,000 sq mi of forest pay ecological dividends far beyond its borders, storing carbon, regulating regional climate, and sustaining cultures that weigh each tree’s life as intimately as the breath it gives life to.

#9: Peru (263,000 sq mi of forest)

Peru’s 496,000 sq mi include around 263,000 sq mi of forest—the majority in the western Amazon and montane cloud forests of the Andes. The Manu Biosphere Reserve spans elevations from 600 ft lowland jungle to 10,000 ft puna grasslands, hosting 1,000 bird species and over 2,000 butterfly species—some discovered as recently as the 1990s. Indigenous Yine and Matsigenka communities maintain polyculture schistosyllis gardens and sustainable Brazil-nut harvesting protocols that shape forest structure.

Hidden archaeological mysteries await in remote valleys: the Kuélap fortress in the cloud belt of Chachapoyas province—dubbed the “Machu Picchu of the north”—perches among cloud‑shrouded giant ferns and Andean lupines. In the upper Amazon, the Marajó‑like fleshy‑fruit palm swamps of the Pacaya–Samiria National Reserve form flooded labyrinths navigated by dugout canoe.

Peru’s forestry management blends ecotourism—Amazon lodge chains like Tambopata Research Center funding macaw clay‑lick observations—with timber extraction regulated under the national guidelines of the Forest Law and its licences. Yet illegal logging of cedar and mahogany persists, driven by global demand. The Peruvian government partners with NGOs to pilot timber‑tracking technologies—embedding RFID tags in logs to ensure chain‑of‑custody transparency.

Climate projections predict Andean treeline shifts, prompting adaptation trials planting Polylepis groves at higher elevations to protect water catchments. Meanwhile, UN‑backed REDD+ schemes channel carbon revenues to community co‑operatives, incentivizing forest conservation over slash‑and‑burn agriculture.

Peru’s 263,000 sq mi of forest reflect millennia of ecological knowledge—from pre‑Inca terrace forests conserving soil moisture to modern research into forest canopy dynamics—underscoring that biodiversity and human well‑being flourish best under green canopies.

#10: India (262,000 sq mi of forest)

India’s 1,269,300 sq mi contain about 262,000 sq mi of forest—ranging from Himalayan pine and fir forests in the north to evergreen rainforests of the Western Ghats. Ancient Vedic texts revered forests (aranyas) as sacred retreats, where sages meditated under banyan trees along riverbanks. Medieval sanctuaries like Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala preserve evergreen habitats where Asian elephants and lion‑tailed macaques thrive.

Hidden within, the Northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh holds uncontacted tribal homelands alongside cloud forests draped in Rhododendron blooms. In Madhya Pradesh’s Satpura range, the Sonanadi Wildlife Sanctuary allows rare sightings of wild bison and leopard in teak and sal forests once razed during British colonial teak extraction—now regenerated through joint forest management that engages local communities in sustainable harvesting.

India’s mangrove‑lined Sundarbans—the world’s largest mangrove forest—spans 3,605 sq mi, where Bengal tigers stalk in tidal creeks and saltwater crocodiles bask beneath sundari trees. Cyclone‑resilient species like kankra and gewa protect inland villages, while a network of elevated cyclone shelters mirrors ancient stilted huts once built by forest dwellers to escape monsoon floods.

The Indian government’s Joint Forest Management program, launched in 1990, partners village councils to regenerate degraded forests. Satellite‑based Forest Survey of India reports show a 5 percent increase in tree cover since 2010, though challenges remain from shifting cultivation in northeast tribal regions and fuelwood pressures in central India.

Research into medicinal plants—such as the Himalayan yew (Taxus wallichiana) for cancer drug taxol—showcases forests’ pharmaceutical potential. Festivals like Ugadi in Karnataka celebrate spring by planting saplings, reflecting cultural roots that link tree planting with renewal and community solidarity.

India’s 262,000 sq mi of forest stand as living legacies of spiritual heritage, ecological innovation, and social stewardship—testifying that in subcontinental forests, tradition and modern conservation converge to nurture green futures.

The world’s ten countries with the widest forests—spanning Russia’s boundless taiga to India’s verdant Western Ghats—demonstrate the essential role of woodlands in sustaining biodiversity, cultural heritage, and global climate regulation. From indigenous knowledge guiding centuries‑old agroforestry to modern satellite monitoring mapping every clearing, these nations illustrate diverse approaches to stewarding Earth’s green mantle. As deforestation pressures and climate change intensify, the stories and strategies woven into these forests offer hope—and a powerful reminder—that safeguarding our planet’s woodlands is imperative for generations to come.