Why have there been more forest properties in 2022 than in 2021?

As of 2022, we have made some changes how we compile these statistics. These changes have resulted in a few more properties. Read more about this in About the statistics.

Forest properties

Updated: 23 October 2023

Next update: 13 September 2024

Number of forest properties
Number of forest properties
2022
126 125
Forest properties and productive forest area
Forest properties and productive forest area
2022
Number of propertiesShareProductive forest areaShare
In total126 125100.069 939 361100.0
Productive forest area in decares
25-99 decares43 45733.82 416 4123.5
100-249 decares32 95326.35 394 2657.7
250-499 decares21 75217.47 731 69011.1
500-999 decares15 30512.310 726 48915.3
1 000-1 999 decares7 9056.310 865 90015.5
2 000-4 999 decares3 5642.810 497 05615.0
5 000-19 999 decares9590.88 261 90711.8
20 000 decares or more2300.214 045 64220.1
Explanation of symbols

Selected tables and charts from this statistics

  • Commercial roundwood removals, by county and size of property. Cubic metre
    Commercial roundwood removals, by county and size of property. Cubic metre1
    TotalSize class by productive forest area in decares
    25-99 decares100-249 decares250-499 decares500-999 decares1000-1999 decares2000-4999 decares5000-19999 decares20 000 decares or more
    The whole country
    201810 978 200525 4681 113 9551 391 4291 843 4171 715 8141 636 6571 302 7421 448 718
    201911 231 975496 5371 015 4551 442 2221 987 6781 761 7501 690 1411 413 0351 425 157
    202010 415 294429 397944 8611 315 0831 665 4831 690 5541 579 8371 295 9811 494 098
    202111 632 299483 3741 076 6031 411 0051 897 0611 923 5571 853 3971 421 4881 565 814
    202211 856 018403 918954 2091 415 3012 022 8841 985 9391 880 6191 648 1171 545 031
    County
    Oslo and Viken3 140 95499 069259 676379 443585 252472 965512 750491 453340 346
    Innlandet4 726 953139 086290 695416 667533 587698 454806 114934 837907 513
    Vestfold og Telemark1 219 44926 87776 692143 784221 617248 836197 731115 954187 958
    Agder880 89016 11064 284111 205215 341245 414:55 123:
    Rogaland89 16310 75917 16224 79627 0902 511::-
    Vestland453 50550 626113 325129 579108 93236 574::-
    Møre og Romsdal266 07222 24338 72348 20579 46755 008::-
    Trøndelag - Trööndelage833 67025 70074 160118 565189 995187 500135 08538 54364 122
    Nordland - Nordlánnda196 76512 25317 11328 53051 62633 018:7 936:
    Troms og Finnmark - Romsa ja Finnmárku48 5971 1952 37914 5279 9775 659:-:
    1Includes properties with at least 25 decares productive forest area. Figures on roundwood removals are based on data from The Forest Trust Fund.
    Explanation of symbols
  • Forest properties by county and size class
    Forest properties by county and size class1
    2022
    TotalSize class by productive forest area in decares
    25-99 decares100-249 decares250-499 decares500-999 decares1000-1999 decares2000-4999 decares5000-19999 decares20 000 or more
    The whole country126 12543 45732 95321 75215 3057 9053 564959230
    County
    Oslo and Viken17 8265 7384 5453 0192 3291 26764024048
    Innlandet20 7187 3424 9723 2222 3171 477890396102
    Vestfold og Telemark9 8213 0192 3341 6861 3038705029215
    Agder10 9673 0732 5332 0351 7391 015498::
    Rogaland5 0572 1011 402800475222525-
    Vestland17 6796 6275 2573 2451 850573111::
    Møre og Romsdal9 0153 4582 5361 5561 004377777-
    Trøndelag - Trööndelage14 0953 9773 2412 6502 1761 29660610841
    Nordland - Nordlánnda11 0224 0652 9941 9381 2915801261711
    Troms og Finnmark - Romsa ja Finnmárku9 6103 9512 9921 4987922817899
    1Property in The Farm Register with at least 25 decares productive forest area. A forest property includes the total productive forest area owned by one owner within a municipality.
    Explanation of symbols
  • Productive forest area by county and size class in decares
    Productive forest area by county and size class in decares1
    2022
    TotalSize class by productive forest area in decares
    25-99 decares100-249 decares250-499 decares500-999 decares1000-1999 decares2000-4999 decares5000-19999 decares20 000 decares or more
    The whole country69 939 3612 416 4125 394 2657 731 69010 726 48910 865 90010 497 0568 261 90714 045 642
    County
    Oslo and Viken11 471 332323 626748 3911 087 5831 644 0291 734 9591 957 8462 001 9171 972 981
    Innlandet18 760 563404 967808 0051 152 9601 653 3022 052 2322 701 3553 639 6126 348 132
    Vestfold og Telemark6 530 460166 162379 712602 984923 7121 190 1161 459 938810 842996 994
    Agder6 027 275170 201421 198735 3641 233 1351 397 8561 453 897::
    Rogaland1 423 924115 365230 648278 990332 537290 214142 86133 3090
    Vestland4 887 192373 599868 2561 145 2091 271 921766 107299 398::
    Møre og Romsdal2 601 823191 561418 826549 598685 280503 878208 58644 0950
    Trøndelag - Trööndelage10 566 655225 378541 214965 3561 540 3441 783 9901 736 576855 7892 918 009
    Nordland - Nordlánnda4 182 485222 527492 561690 912901 381778 537323 964135 995636 607
    Troms og Finnmark - Romsa ja Finnmárku3 487 650223 026485 453522 733540 848368 012212 637103 1411 031 800
    1Includes properties in The Farm Register with at least 25 decares productive forest area.
    Explanation of symbols

About the statistics

The statistics provide an overview of both the forest properties and forestry as an industry.

Forest property
Property with at least 25 decares of productive forest area. Property parcels belonging to the same owner within one municipality are treated as one property.

Personal forest owner
Forest owner owning forest area as an individual owner. Forest areas owned jointly by several individuals are included for one of the owners; the reference owner.

Legal owners
Central government, the Educational Fund, common forest owned by the central government (Statsallmenning), common forest not owned by the central government (Bygdeallmenning), limited company, foundation, municipality etc.

Name: Forest properties
Topic: Agriculture, forestry, hunting and fishing

13 September 2024

Division for Housing, Property, Spatial and Agricultural Statistics

Municipality.

Yearly.

Not relevant

Collected and revised data are stored securely by Statistics Norway in compliance with applicable legislation on data processing.

Statistics Norway can grant access to the source data (de-identified or anonymised microdata) on which the statistics are based, for researchers and public authorities for the purposes of preparing statistical results and analyses. Access can be granted upon application and subject to conditions. Refer to the details about this at Access to data from Statistics Norway.

The purpose of these statistics is to provide an overview of both the forest properties and forestry as an industry. Since 2006, Statistics Norway has published annual statistics for all forest properties by merging data from different administrative data sources. Prior to this, statistics for all forest properties were only available based on full censuses, the last of which was in 1989.

The main users of the statistics are professional forestry organisations, The Ministry of Agriculture and Food and various research and educational institutions.

No external users have access to the statistics and analyses before they are published and accessible simultaneously for all users on ssb.no at 8 am. Prior to this, a minimum of three months' advance notice is given in the Statistics Release Calendar. This is one of Statistics Norway’s key principles for ensuring that all users are treated equally.

Statistics Norway has yearly statistics on commercial roundwood removals and silviculture based on the same sources as these statistics. Linking the Farm Register with these sources makes it possible to publish figures on commercial removals and silviculture by the size of the productive forest area of the properties and the forest owners' productive forest area.

The National Forest Inventory also publishes figures on the productive forest area in Norway. The inventory estimates a productive forest area that is more than 10 per cent larger than the aggregated areas from the forest properties. The National Forest Inventory estimates the area based on sample plots.

The statistics are developed, produced and disseminated pursuant to Act no. 32 of 21 June 2019 relating to official statistics and Statistics Norway (the Statistics Act).

Not relevant

Including 2010, the statistics comprise all properties in the Farm Register of the Norwegian Agricultural Authority with at least 25 decares of productive forest area.

As from 2011, the number of forest properties and productive forest area are based on new cartographic data analyses and data on owners and properties from the cadastre in combination with data from the Farm register.

Some forest owners are represented in the Farm Register with more than one property within one municipality. In these cases, the properties owned by the same owner are merged into one property within the municipality. Thus the statistics on forest properties up to and including 2011 will include fewer units than the Farm Register. As from 2012 the number of forest properties incresed.

Common forests owned by the central government (Statsallmenning) will always be counted as one single property.

The statistics are derived from existing administrative data files.

Carteographic data and data on forest owners and properties from the cadastre (Land register) are combiined with The Farm Register of the Norwegian Agriculture Agency, and serves as the backbone of the statistics. The information from the Farm Register is combined with information at property level from different data sources such as the Register of Timber Trade and Diverted Trust Fund, and the Forest Trust Fund.

The statistics are derived from the whole population of forest properties.

Editing is defined here as checking, examining and amending data.The statistics are based on linked data files that were edited separately when established. The information on the productive forest area is checked if errors are suspected. Examples: i) If a forest property has commercial felling and does not have a forest area. ii) If a large forest property does not have commercial felling.

Not relevant

Employees of Statistics Norway have a duty of confidentiality.

Statistics Norway does not publish figures if there is a risk of the respondent’s contribution being identified. This means that, as a general rule, figures are not published if fewer than three units form the basis of a cell in a table or if the contribution of one or two respondents constitutes a very large part of the cell total.

Statistics Norway can make exceptions to the general rule if deemed necessary to meet the requirements of the EEA agreement, if the respondent is a public authority, if the respondent has consented to this, or when the information disclosed is openly accessible to the public.

More information can be found on Statistics Norway’s website under Methods in official statistics, in the ‘Confidentiality’ section.

The statistics on forest properties are comparable with statistics from the Census of Forestry 1967 and the Censuses of Agriculture and Forestry 1979 and 1989. They are also essentially comparable with statistics from the Sample Survey of Agriculture and Forestry in the 1990s and in 2000 and 2004. The number of forest properties has fallen from 128 300 in 1967 to 116 502 in 2005. The Censuses of Agriculture and Forestry 1979 and 1989 calculated 120 900 and 125 500 forest properties respectively. It has been difficult to trace all small-sized properties without commercial felling. In some regions it is difficult to assess whether the areas are productive or not. As from 2011, carteographic analysis are used to decide the properties and the number of properties increased to 131 800 properties. After a review of the properties that fullfill the requirement, the total in 2014 came to 128 200. This causes difficulties when comparing the number of forest properties over time.

Statistics are published for both forest properties and personal forest owners. The following is a brief explanation of the relationship between these units: a forest property is the forest owners' total productive forest area within a municipality. A forest owner may own forest properties in more than one municipality. Therefore the number of forest owners is less than the number of forest properties with a personal forest owner. About 113 000 forest properties with a personal owner are registered in The Farm Register. Out of the personal forest owners, almost 3 000 are deceased, living abroad or lacking information. The statistics on incomes are based on the personal forest owners that are alive.

The main concern is the quality of productive forest area. In the cadastre, 920 000 decares productive forest area are not linked to a title number of a holding number, and will not be included in the statistics. Furthermore, errors may arise when data are entered into the various administrative registers. Including 2010, 2-3 per cent of the quantity of commercial roundwood felled is not linked to any forest property. As from 2011, the Forest Trust Fund is used as source for roundwood cut. The new source also includes energy woood and some assortments that are removed from the statististics on commercial roundwood removals.

Not relevant

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