Statistical data

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Forest inventory
Forest area by classification (hectares)
Forest land	361,732,641
Other wooded land	36,249,346
Other land with tree cover	12,662,714
Forest area change (hectares, 2020)
Afforestation	Not available
Deforestation	49,352
Agriculture	22,378
Mining, oil and gas	15,144
Built-up	9,637
Hydroelectric	1,101
Forestry	1,092
Forest ownership
Provincial	75.4%
Territorial	13.0%
Private	6.7%
Indigenous	2.1%
Federal	1.7%
Growing stock (million cubic metres, 2020)
Total volume	49,900

Inventory sources and information

Forest area by classification

Sources:

Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. 2020. Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020: Country Report: Canada. Rome, Italy.
National Forest Inventory. Standard reports, Table 4.0, Area (1000 ha) of forest and non-forest land in Canada. (accessed May 9, 2022).

Notes:

First remeasurement (2017) estimate of Canada’s forest area
The National Forest Inventory uses the following definitions from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO):
- Forest–land – land spanning more than 0.5 hectares where the tree canopy covers more than 10% of the total land area and the trees can grow to a height of more than 5 metres. It does not include land that is predominantly urban or used for agricultural purposes.
- Other land with tree cover – areas of land where tree canopies cover more than 10% of the total area and the trees, when mature, can grow to a height of at least 5 metres. Includes treed areas on farms, in parks and gardens, and around buildings. Also includes tree plantations established mainly for purposes other than wood production, such as fruit orchards.
- Other wooded land – areas of land where: 1) tree canopies cover 5% – 10% of the total area and the trees, when mature, can grow to a height above 5 metres; or 2) shrubs, bushes and trees together cover more than 10% of the area. These areas include treed wetlands (swamps) and land with slow-growing and scattered trees. They do not include land that is predominantly agricultural or urban.

Forest area change

Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada. 2022. National Inventory Report 1990–2020: Greenhouse gas sources and sinks in Canada. (accessed May 11, 2022).

Note: Environment and Climate Change Canada’s National Inventory Report 1990–2020: Greenhouse gas sources and sinks in Canada uses Natural Resources Canada–Canadian Forest Service’s National Forest Carbon Monitoring, Accounting and Report System.

Forest ownership

Source: National Forest Inventory. Standard reports, Table 12.0 Area (1000 ha) of forest land by ownership in Canada. (accessed May 9, 2022).

Growing stock

Sources:

National Forest Inventory. Standard reports, Table 15.0, Total tree volume (million m³) on forest land by forest type and age class in Canada. (accessed June 29, 2022).
National Forest Inventory. Standard reports, Table 16.0, Total tree volume (million m³) by species group and age class in Canada. (accessed June 29, 2022).

Disturbance
Insects (hectares, 2020)
Area defoliated by insects and containing beetle-killed trees	17,768,618
Fires (2021)
Area burned (hectares)	4,307,520
Number of fires	6,596

Disturbance sources and information

Insects

Source: National Forestry Database. Forest insects – Forest insects, Table 4 Area of moderate to severe defoliation (including beetle-killed trees) by insects. (accessed June 21, 2022).

Notes:

Forest area disturbed by defoliators (e.g., budworms, Lymantria dispar) includes only areas with tree mortality or moderate to severe defoliation. Defoliation does not always result in mortality. Several factors, including defoliation severity, duration, and frequency, or presence of other stressors (e.g., drought), can affect the level of mortality.
Forest area disturbed by bark beetles (e.g., mountain pine beetle, spruce beetle) is derived from aerial surveys that map trees that are dead or dying from successful beetle attack.
Summing the areas affected by more than one insect to create a grand total can result in an overestimate if more than one insect species occurs in the same stand in the same year. For example, in a mixedwood forest, spruce budworm may defoliate balsam fir in the same stand where forest tent caterpillar is defoliating the aspen trees.

Fires

Sources:

National Forestry Database. Forest fires, Table 3.1.1, Number of fires by cause class. (accessed June 21, 2022).
National Forestry Database. Forest fires, Table 3.2.1, Area burned by cause class. (accessed June 21, 2022).

Note:

The National Forestry Database sources the latest year’s fire data from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre and all years prior from the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System.

Forest management
Harvesting (2020)
Area harvested (hectares)	710,333
Volume harvested (cubic metres)	143,061,196
Regeneration (hectares, 2020)
Area planted	422,363
Area seeded	9,210
Third-party certification (hectares, 2021)
Area certified	158,391,456
Protected forest (IUCN categories)
Ia Strict nature reserve	0.1%
Ib Wilderness area	2.4%
II Ecosystem conservation and protection	6.3%
III Conservation of natural features	0.0%
IV Conservation through active management	0.3%
V Landscape conservation and recreation	0.0%

Forest management sources and information

Harvesting

Sources:

National Forestry Database. Harvest, Table 5.1, Net merchantable volume of roundwood harvested by ownership, category and species group. (accessed June 21, 2022).
National Forestry Database. Harvest, Table 5.2, Area harvested by ownership, management and harvesting method. (accessed June 21, 2022).

Notes:

The national and provincial/territorial profile figures for harvesting volumes include data for industrial roundwood, fuelwood and firewood from provincial and territorial Crown land and from private land.
Area harvested data include federal, provincial, territorial and private forest lands.

Regeneration

Sources:

National Forestry Database. Regeneration, Table 6.3, Area of direct seeding by ownership and application method. (accessed June 21, 2022).
National Forestry Database. Regeneration, Table 6.5, Area planted by ownership and species group. (accessed June 21, 2022).

Third-party certification

Source: Certification Canada, Canadian statistics. (accessed May 25, 2022).

Note: If a forest area has been certified to more than one of the three sustainable forest management standards (Canadian Standards Association, Sustainable Forestry Initiative, and Forest Stewardship Council), the area is counted only once. Therefore, the total certification for sustainable forest management standards may be less than the sum of the individual totals for these standards. The independently certified forest area is calculated using Forest Management Units, which include streams, lakes, rivers and roads.

Protected forest

Source:

IUCN: International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Note:

Data obtained from the Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database (CPCAD).

Greenhouse gas inventory
For forest lands affected by land-use change (2020)
Removals from the atmosphere due to afforestation (CO₂e/yr, megatonnes)	0.2
Total emissions due to deforestation (CO₂e/yr, megatonnes)	11.5
For managed forests (2020)
Area of managed forests (hectares)	225,516,062
Total net emissions or removals to the atmosphere, all causes (CO₂e/yr, megatonnes)	3.5
Net emissions or removals due to natural disturbances (CO₂e/yr, megatonnes)	8.8
Net emissions or removals due to human forest management activities and from harvested wood products (CO₂e/yr, megatonnes)	-5.3
Transfers from the managed forest sector to the forest products sector due to harvesting (CO₂e/yr, megatonnes)	-141.9

Greenhouse gas inventory sources and information

Greenhouse gas inventory

Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada. 2022. National Inventory Report 1990–2020: Greenhouse gas sources and sinks in Canada. (accessed May 11, 2022).

Notes:

Environment and Climate Change Canada’s National inventory report 1990–2020: Greenhouse gas sources and sinks in Canada is based on data and analysis from Natural Resources Canada–Canadian Forest Service’s National Forest Carbon Monitoring, Accounting and Reporting System.
For forest lands affected by land-use change, the deforestation and afforestation figures reflect annual rates. Figures for CO₂ equivalent (CO₂e) emissions and removals reflect the current year plus the previous 20 years. Thus, the figures for CO₂e emissions include residual emissions from areas deforested over the past 20 years, and the figures for CO₂e removals include ongoing removals by all areas afforested over the past 20 years.
See the sources and information for the sustainability indicator Forest carbon emissions and removals for more detail.

Domestic economic impact
Contribution to nominal GDP (current dollars, 2021)
Forestry and logging	5,270,035,084
Pulp and paper product manufacturing	9,719,878,832
Wood product manufacturing	19,820,127,123
Total contribution to nominal GDP	34,810,041,039
Contribution to real GDP (constant 2012 dollars, 2021)
Forestry and logging	3,844,000,000
Pulp and paper product manufacturing	6,685,000,000
Wood product manufacturing	9,020,000,000
Total contribution to real GDP	19,549,000,000
Employment (number, 2021)
Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours	177,693
Canadian System of National Accounts	205,365
Natural Resources Satellite Account	210,706
Direct and indirect employment	345,825
Wages and salaries (dollars, 2020)	10,556,105,000
Capital expenditures (dollars, 2021)	2,659,800,000
Repair expenditures (dollars, 2020)	2,793,800,000
Revenue from goods manufactured (dollars, 2020)	72,945,276,000

Economic impact sources and information

Contribution to nominal GDP

Sources:

Statistics Canada. Table 36-10-0434-04: Gross domestic product (GDP) at basic prices, by industry, monthly (x 1,000,000). (accessed March 1, 2022).
Statistics Canada. Table 18-10-0267-01: Industrial product price index, by industry, monthly. (accessed March 1, 2022).
Statistics Canada. Table 18-10-0268-01: Raw materials price index, monthly. (accessed March 1, 2022).
Statistics Canada. Table 18-10-0265-01: Industrial product price index, by major product group, monthly. (accessed March 1, 2022).

Notes:

Natural Resources Canada–Canadian Forest Service’s calculations for the latest year’s nominal GDP are based on Statistics Canada’s tables 36-10-0434-04, 18-10-0267-01, 18-10-0268-01 and 18-10-0265-01: GDP in 2012 constant prices and on estimated industry price deflators indexed to 2012.
Data from Statistics Canada’s Natural Resources Satellite Account (NRSA) are a key source of information on the economic contribution of the forest sector in Canada. The NRSA, the result of collaboration between Natural Resources Canada and Statistics Canada, is able to capture economic activity in forest industry segments that have traditionally been difficult to measure, such as wood furniture manufacturing. According to data from the NRSA, the forest sector directly accounted for $39.2 billion to Canada’s nominal GDP (1.7% of total GDP) in 2021.

Contribution to real GDP

Source: Statistics Canada. Table 36-10-0434-04: Gross domestic product (GDP) at basic prices, by industry, monthly (x 1,000,000). (accessed March 1, 2022).

Notes:

Real GDP in 2012 constant prices.
Nominal and real GDP vary in that real values are adjusted for inflation whereas nominal values are not. Therefore, real GDP is used to account for differences between time periods (e.g., comparing 2020 and 2021 GDP).

Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours

Source: Statistics Canada. Table 14-10-0202-01 (formerly CANSIM 281-0024): Employment by industry, annual. (accessed March 29, 2022).

Notes:

Employment–includes jobs held by people employed directly in the following subsectors: forestry and logging, support activities for forestry, pulp and paper product manufacturing, and wood product manufacturing.
Natural Resources Canada prefers to use employment data from Statistics Canada’s System of National Accounts (SNA) because these data are linked to the underlying framework used to compile the Canadian System of Natural Economic Accounts (e.g., GDP, national wealth).
SEPH data focus on industry and can be used for comparing direct company employment in forestry with that in other sectors.

Canadian System of National Accounts

Source: Statistics Canada. Table 36-10-0489-01 (formerly CANSIM 383-0031): Labour statistics consistent with the System of National Accounts (SNA), by job category and industry. (accessed May 20, 2022).

Note: Natural Resources Canada prefers to use employment data from Statistics Canada’s System of National Accounts (SNA) because these data are linked to the underlying framework used to compile the Canadian System of Natural Economic Accounts (e.g., GDP, national wealth).

Natural resources satellite account

Source: Statistics Canada. Table 38-10-0285-01 (formerly CANSIM 388-0010): Natural resources satellite account, indicators (x 1,000,000). (accessed June 29, 2022).

Note: Data from Statistics Canada’s Natural Resources Satellite Account (NRSA) are a key source of information on the economic contribution of the forest sector in Canada. The NRSA is able to capture economic activity in forest industry segments that have traditionally been difficult to measure, such as wood furniture manufacturing.

Direct and indirect employment

Source: Natural Resources Canada–Canadian Forest Service calculated indirect employment using Statistics Canada’s National Symmetric Input-Output Tables (15-207-XCB) and National Multipliers (15F0046XDB).

Note: The calculations for indirect employment were changed in 2019 to better account for employment in the forest sector. Retroactive changes to previous years’ data have not been applied at this time.

Wages and salaries

Sources:

Statistics Canada. Table 16-10-0117-01 (formerly CANSIM 301-0008): Principal statistics for manufacturing industries, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) (x 1,000). (accessed March 3, 2022).
Statistics Canada. Table 16-10-0114-01 (formerly CANSIM 301-0009): Logging industries, principal statistics by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) (x 1,000). (accessed May 25, 2022).

Note: Wages and salaries are the earnings, in cash or in kind, of Canadian residents for work performed before deduction of income taxes and contributions to pension funds, employment insurance and other social insurance schemes.

Capital expenditures

Source: Statistics Canada. Table 34-10-0035-01 (formerly CANSIM 029-0045): Capital and repair expenditures, non-residential tangible assets, by industry and geography (x 1,000,000). (accessed March 3, 2022).

Note: Capital expenditures include the costs of procuring, constructing and installing or leasing new durable plants, machinery and equipment, whether for the replacement of or addition to existing assets. Also included are all capitalized costs, such as costs for feasibility studies and architectural, legal, installation and engineering fees; the value of capital assets put in place by firms, either by contract or with the firm’s own labour force; and capitalized interest charges on loans for capital projects.

Repair expenditures

Note: Repair expenditures include costs to repair and maintain structures, machinery and equipment.

Revenue from goods manufactured

Sources:

Statistics Canada. Table 16-10-0117-01 (formerly CANSIM 301-0008): Principal statistics for manufacturing industries, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) (x 1,000). (accessed March 3, 2022).
Statistics Canada. Table 16-10-0114-01 (formerly CANSIM 301-0009): Logging industries, principal statistics by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) (x 1,000). (accessed May 25, 2022).

Note: Revenue from goods manufactured includes revenue from the sale of goods manufactured using materials owned by the establishment, as well as from repair work, manufacturing service charges and work contracted to others.

Trade
Value of domestic exports (dollars, 2021)
Balance of trade (total exports, dollars, 2021)	31,957,683,387
Primary wood products	1,327,619,745
Pulp and paper products	16,702,542,987
Wood-fabricated materials	26,866,265,998
Total value of exports	44,896,428,730
Value of imports (dollars, 2021)	12,938,745,343

Trade sources and information

Balance of trade

Source: Statistics Canada. Merchandise trade data (special extraction, March 8, 2022).

Note: Balance of trade is the difference between the value of the goods and services that a country exports domestically and the value of the goods and services that it imports. If a country’s exports exceed its imports, it has a trade surplus. If its imports exceed exports, the country has a trade deficit.

Domestic production and consumption
Production (2021)
Hardwood lumber (cubic metres)	873,500
Softwood lumber (cubic metres)	55,950,700
Newsprint (tonnes)	1,888,000
Printing and writing paper (tonnes)	2,418,000
Wood pulp (tonnes)	14,266,000
Structural panels (plywood and oriented strandboard) (cubic metres)	8,938,385
Consumption (2021)
Hardwood lumber (cubic metres)	1,038,494
Softwood lumber (cubic metres)	19,963,049
Newsprint (tonnes)	-90,833
Printing and writing paper (tonnes)	937,245
Wood pulp (tonnes)	6,643,821
Structural panels (plywood and oriented strandboard) (cubic metres)	4,111,910

Domestic production and consumption sources and information

Production

Sources:

APA – The Engineered Wood Association. Quarterly production reports.
Pulp and Paper Products Council.
Statistics Canada. Table 16-10-0017-01: Lumber production, shipments, and stocks by species, monthly (x 1,000). (accessed March 3, 2022).

Notes:

The production and consumption data of structural panels (plywood and oriented strand board) are from APA – The Engineered Wood Association.
Production and consumption figures for newsprint, printing and writing paper, and wood pulp are based on data of the Pulp and Paper Products Council.
Data used for lumber production include total softwood production for Canada.
In January 2019, Statistics Canada noted that they made changes to the sampling and estimation methods for the monthly Sawmills Survey, which is the source of the softwood lumber production data. As a result of these changes, Statistics Canada replaced Table 16-10-0017-01 (which was used in previous editions of the State of Canada’s Forests: Annual Report) with Table 16-10-0045-01 as of January 2019. See Statistics Canada's The Daily for more information.
Because of changes in sampling and estimation methods in the Sawmills survey, readers should exercise caution in comparing data from different sources directly.

Consumption

Source: Consumption figures for a range of products, calculated by Natural Resources Canada–Canadian Forest Service.

Notes:

This information is available only at the national level.
Domestic consumption of wood pulp (tonnes) contains Natural Resources Canada–Canadian Forest Service estimates of import volumes that may be subject to revision.

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Statistical data

Forest inventory

Disturbance

Forest management

Greenhouse gas inventory

Domestic economic impact

Trade

Domestic production and consumption