The table illustrates forested area in millions of hectares in six different parts of the world in 1990, 2000 and 2005.
Overall, Europe was by far the most forested part among others without any significant changes throughout the period, while Oceania showed the smallest figures with modest fluctuations.
Regarding continents that experienced a decrease, South America and Africa both fell significantly over the period, with Africa declining from 749 million hectares in 1990 to 691 million hectares in 2005, and South America decreasing consistently from 946 million hectares in 1990 to 882 million hectares after 15 years. North America and Oceania, however, dipped slightly from just 708 and 199 million hectares in 1990 to 705 and 197 milion hectares by the end of the period.
As for continents that increased, Europe witnessed a substantial rise over the period, climbing from 989 million hectares in 1990 to 1001 million hectares in 2005, remaining as a continent with the most forested land over 15 years, while Asia rose slightly from 576 million in 1990 hectares to 584 million hectares by 2005, despite a small dip to 570 million hectares in 2000.
