Which has higher tree cover loss, China or Democratic Republic of Congo?

Democratic Republic of Congo, at 1.38 million hectares against 673,569 hectares in China as of 2024.

What is the difference in tree cover loss between China and Democratic Republic of Congo?

702,101 hectares, with Democratic Republic of Congo ahead.

How many years of comparable data are there for China and Democratic Republic of Congo?

24 years are reported by both, from 2001 to 2024.

Where does this data come from?

Global Forest Watch (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as Tree cover loss. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

China vs Democratic Republic of Congo: Tree cover loss

China

673,569 hectares

in 2024

Democratic Republic of Congo

1.38 million hectares

in 2024

China rank

8th

Democratic Republic of Congo rank

6th

Tree cover loss over time

China
Democratic Republic of Congo

How they compare

Democratic Republic of Congo currently reports 1.38 million hectares against 673,569 hectares in China, a difference of 702,101 hectares.

That makes Democratic Republic of Congo's figure about 2.0 times China's.

The two have swapped places 6 times across 24 shared years of data; in 2001 it was Democratic Republic of Congo ahead.

China ranks 8th and Democratic Republic of Congo ranks 6th of 197 countries.

Across the 3 decades both report, China averaged higher in 1 and Democratic Republic of Congo in 2.

Head to head by decade

Decade	China	Democratic Republic of Congo	Difference	Ahead
2000s	459,864 hectares	450,847 hectares	9,018 hectares	China
2010s	568,749 hectares	1.05 million hectares	478,063 hectares	Democratic Republic of Congo
2020s	568,083 hectares	1.29 million hectares	726,507 hectares	Democratic Republic of Congo

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher tree cover loss, China or Democratic Republic of Congo?: Democratic Republic of Congo, at 1.38 million hectares against 673,569 hectares in China as of 2024.
What is the difference in tree cover loss between China and Democratic Republic of Congo?: 702,101 hectares, with Democratic Republic of Congo ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for China and Democratic Republic of Congo?: 24 years are reported by both, from 2001 to 2024.
How do China and Democratic Republic of Congo rank globally for tree cover loss?: China ranks 8th and Democratic Republic of Congo ranks 6th of 197 countries.
Where does this data come from?: Global Forest Watch (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as Tree cover loss. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

China vs Democratic Republic of Congo: Tree cover loss. Statizoid, drawing on Global Forest Watch (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Retrieved 23 September 2026, from https://reference.statizoid.com/compare/tree-cover-loss/china/congo-dem-rep/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://reference.statizoid.com/compare/tree-cover-loss/china/congo-dem-rep/">China vs Democratic Republic of Congo: Tree cover loss</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator: Tree cover loss
Unit: hectares
Source: Global Forest Watch (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 197 places, 4,728 data points, 2001–2024
Last refreshed: 18 September 2026

Tree cover loss driven by all causes.