Anyone travelling through the Nordic countries soon realises that there is a lot of forest. An enormous amount in fact. Here are some facts about the Swedish forests and the importance of our green industry.
Swedish forests
- In Sweden alone, forest covers 70 per cent of the surface. There are around 87 billion trees.
- The Swedish forest is divided in three regions; Nemoral forest with species as beech and oak in the southernmost part, a large boreal region dominated by pine and spruce and the alpine region with mostly spruce and on higher altitudes birch.
- There is now twice as much wood in Sweden as there was 100 years ago.
Swedish forest owners
- 48 % of all forest land in Sweden is owned by family enterprises, 320.000 in total. Many of them are members of the Federation of Swedish Farmers.
- 24 % is owned by large industrial forest enterprises, members of the Swedish Forest Industries Federation.
- 6 % is owned by other private forest owners for example the Swedish Church and for-profit and non-profit associations.
- 22 % of the forest is owned by the state - of which the state-owned company Sveaskog accounts for 14 %.
Swedish forestry
- One per cent of our forest is felled annually. Nonetheless, growth outpaces felling.
For every tree harvested at least two new are planted. - Environmental and production targets in forestry are brought in line with each other, since the Swedish Forestry Act was updated in 1993.
- Sweden's forest industry has reduced its emissions by over 60 per cent since 2005 and also uses almost no fossil fuels in its processes.
- The forest industry is one of Sweden's most important business sectors. It directly employs 70,000 people in Sweden. If all subcontractors are included, there are 120,000 people employed in the sector.
