Forest land

Under the Forestry Act (1979:429), forest land is defined as a coherent area in which trees are higher than five metres and the crown cover is more than ten percent or there are conditions to attain this height and crown cover without production-enhancing measures. This definition has been valid since 2008 when it was changed (SFS 2008:662) in order to harmonize the Swedish definition of forest land with the international one. The area of ​​forest land in Sweden became larger according to the new definition compared to the old one (Loman, 2011).

Productive forest land
 Under the Forestry Act, productive forest land is defined as forest land that, according to generally accepted criteria, can produce on average of at least one cubic metre of wood per hectare and year.  

Types of forest land

Statistics Sweden presents statistics on four different types of forest land: 

1. formally protected forest land,
2. voluntary set-asides,
3. consideration patches for regeneration felling, and
4. unproductive forest land.

They are described in the government assignment (N2018/04159/SK) as the subsets on which these statistics are to be distributed. The statistics are produced in a collaboration between Statistics Sweden, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, the Swedish Forest Agency, and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

Formally protected forest land

Forest land regulated by laws and ordinances concerning protected areas, as well as agreements, entered into individual decisions. In these statistics, it is a collective term for various forms of protection. These are present in both productive and on unproductive forest land. The protection included in the statistics are: 

1. National parks
2. Nature reserves with regulations against forestry
3. Habitat protection areas
4. Natura 2000 with designated forest habitats
5. Nature conservation agreements, including “ekoparker” (nature reserves) and the White-Backed Woodpecker Action Plan
6. Agreement between government agencies between the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and the Swedish Fortifications Agency
7. Habitat protection areas and nature reserves for which the decision is not final and binding
8. Land compensation for the establishment of nature reserves.

Voluntary set-asides

Areas of productive forest land on which landowners voluntarily decided not to carry out any measures that can harm natural values, cultural environments, or social values.

Consideration patches

Small areas of productive forest land that have been made available, voluntarily, or pursuant to the Swedish Forest Care Act, for regeneration felling. The areas are preliminary estimates based on the most recent definitive five-year average value in 2018/2019.

Unproductive forest land

Forest land that, according to generally accepted criteria, is not able to produce on average at least one cubic metre of wood per hectare and year. Examples of unproductive forest land include subalpine birch forests, tree- or shrub-covered mires, and sparsely wooded rocky land areas.

Changes over time

Values for consideration patches and voluntary set-asides have been revised continuously due to continuous quality increase in method and input data. In conjunction with the publication of the 2023 values, new values for the previous years are also reported.