Europe’s forests are growing faster than they are being harvested in 23 of the 24 EU member states with available data — and only one country finished 2023 with less timber standing than it started with. That is according to Eurostat, which tracks the gap between net annual increment and wood removals as a proxy for sustainable forest management across the bloc.
Romania posted the largest volume surplus, with forest growth exceeding harvest by 39.9 million cubic metres over the year, followed by Sweden with 26.4 million, and Poland with 26.3 million. Estonia stood alone on the other side of the ledger.
Removals reached 11.6 million cubic metres against a natural increment of just 9.1 million, leaving available timber stocks down 2.5 million cubic metres on the year. Factor in natural losses alongside harvest — wildfire, windthrow, pest damage — and Ireland led the EU on net stock growth at +3.6 per cent, with Denmark at +3.2 per cent. Estonia’s net position under that wider measure fell to -0.6 per cent.
It comes after Wood Central earlier this year reported that Portugal posted the EU’s highest single-country forest growth rate at 11.1 per cent, driven largely by eucalyptus plantations and aggressive reforestation. “Around 36 per cent of our territory is forest. Forest and scrubland make up 69 per cent of the territory,” Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro said at the launch of the country’s Forest Intervention Plan to 2050, backed by a commitment of approximately 6.4 billion euros. “A country that doesn’t take care of this isn’t taking care of itself.”
Eurostat’s methodology covers only intentionally harvested wood, excluding unforeseen catastrophic losses. That distinction is deliberate — it isolates the forestry sector’s operational footprint from the distortions that disaster years introduce into broader removal tallies. Complete data remains unavailable for Greece, Spain and Italy, meaning the full EU picture is not yet settled.
