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Afforestation Area 2021

Substantial declines in annual afforestation areas

Online ISSN: 2811-5597

CSO statistical publication, 26 April 2022, 11am

Key Findings

Afforested area declined from 6,947 hectares in 2007 to 2,016 hectares in 2021.
Broadleaf species comprised 41% of 2021 afforestation area.
Average afforestation parcel in 2021 was 7.1 hectares.
Area planted by farmers declined in every year since 2010.
Cork accounted for 17% of the total afforested area in 2021.

Statistician's Comment

Commenting on the release, Niamh Shanahan, Statistician in the Environment and Climate Division of the CSO, said: "This is the first time the CSO has published figures on afforestation. The report shows the area afforested in 2021 was 2,016 hectares (ha) which was 29% of the area planted in 2007. The proportion of broadleaf species planted in 2021 was 41% which is the highest share in the 2007-2021 series. The share of afforested area planted by farmers in 2021 was 18% which was a sharp decline from their 2014 share of 97%. Alder and Ash were the main broadleaf species planted during 2007 to 2013 while Alder and Birch were the main species from 2015 to 2021. Sitka Spruce is the dominant conifer species and comprised 86% of coniferous species in 2021.

County Cork had the largest afforested area every year from 2007 to 2016, and from 2019 to 2021. Cork accounted for 17% of the total afforested area in 2021 followed by Roscommon (9.4%), Clare (8.6%), and Cavan (7.9%).

The highest average parcel size was 8.4 ha in 2009. In 2021 it was 7.1 ha."

	Afforestation Area
2007	6.947
2008	6.249
2009	6.648
2010	8.314
2011	6.653
2012	6.652
2013	6.252
2014	6.156
2015	6.293
2016	6.5
2017	5.536
2018	4.025
2019	3.55
2020	2.434
2021	2.016

Afforestation Area	Conifer	Broadleaf
2007	4.765	2.182
2008	4.022	2.227
2009	4.175	2.473
2010	5.165	3.149
2011	4.206	2.447
2012	4.607	2.045
2013	4.76	1.492
2014	4.808	1.348
2015	5.03	1.263
2016	5.23	1.27
2017	4.375	1.161
2018	2.956	1.07
2019	2.657	0.893
2020	1.616	0.819
2021	1.187	0.829

	Afforestation Area
Carlow	9
Cavan	160
Clare	174
Cork	343
Donegal	22
Dublin
Galway	144
Kerry	121
Kildare	42
Kilkenny	55
Laois	5
Leitrim	98
Limerick	60
Longford	70
Louth
Mayo	119
Meath	44
Monaghan	17
Offaly	25
Roscommon	190
Sligo	92
Tipperary	32
Waterford	33
Westmeath	49
Wexford	15
Wicklow	98

Table 1 Afforestation Area by Species Type 2007-2021

Table 2 Afforestation Area by Applicant Type 2007-2021

Table 3A Afforestation Area by Broadleaf Species 2007-2021

Table 3B Afforestation Area by Conifer Species 2007-2021

Table 4 Afforestation Area by County 2007-2021

Table 5A Number of Afforestation Parcels by Size Class 2007-2021

Table 5B Afforestation Area by Parcel Size Class 2007-2021

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Table 1 Afforestation Area by Species Type 2007-2021
Hectares					Number of Parcels
Year	Broadleaf	Conifer	Total area	% Broadleaf	Afforestation Parcels	Average ha per Parcel
2007	2,182	4,765	6,947	31%	935	7.4
2008	2,227	4,022	6,249	36%	782	8.0
2009	2,473	4,175	6,648	37%	791	8.4
2010	3,149	5,165	8,314	38%	1,008	8.2
2011	2,447	4,206	6,653	37%	895	7.4
2012	2,045	4,607	6,652	31%	990	6.7
2013	1,492	4,760	6,252	24%	964	6.5
2014	1,348	4,808	6,156	22%	1,004	6.1
2015	1,263	5,030	6,293	20%	988	6.4
2016	1,270	5,230	6,500	20%	1,019	6.4
2017	1,161	4,375	5,536	21%	901	6.1
2018	1,070	2,956	4,025	27%	635	6.3
2019	893	2,657	3,550	25%	508	7.0
2020	819	1,616	2,434	34%	361	6.7
2021	829	1,187	2,016	41%	284	7.1

Table 2 Afforestation Area by Applicant Type 2007-2021
Hectares
Year	Farmer	Non-Farmer	Public Sector	Total Area
2007	6,469	478	-	6,947
2008	5,835	347	67	6,249
2009	6,217	396	35	6,648
2010	7,929	381	4	8,314
2011	6,254	337	62	6,653
2012	6,237	355	60	6,652
2013	6,009	240	3	6,252
2014	5,978	178	-	6,156
2015	5,390	894	9	6,293
2016	4,156	2,344	-	6,500
2017	3,242	2,294	-	5,536
2018	2,009	2,016	-	4,025
2019	1,292	2,258	-	3,550
2020	579	1,855	-	2,434
2021	360	1,657	-	2,016

Table 3B Afforestation Area by Conifer Species 2007-2021
Hectares
Year	Douglas fir	European larch	Hybrid larch	Japanese larch	Lodgepole pine	Norway spruce	Serbian spruce	Scots pine	Sitka spruce	Western red cedar	Other conifers	Total conifers
2007	36	61	81	674	150	472	18	192	2,993	2	88	4,765
2008	29	56	78	583	106	426	14	255	2,413	1	61	4,022
2009	12	46	71	572	66	389	31	276	2,565	2	143	4,175
2010	10	33	55	806	108	539	32	189	3,267	0	125	5,165
2011	34	42	67	89	25	535	-	115	3,200	0	100	4,206
2012	56	23	97	41	30	570	12	113	3,576	3	87	4,607
2013	23	16	95	5	26	523	6	76	3,903	1	86	4,760
2014	23	7	116	0	37	485	21	52	3,992	2	72	4,808
2015	7	10	73	1	23	521	13	72	4,231	10	69	5,030
2016	13	5	46	1	21	449	8	50	4,554	0	82	5,230
2017	23	13	7	0	3	333	9	58	3,855	5	69	4,375
2018	1	1	4	0	3	196	-	42	2,644	6	58	2,956
2019	6	0	1	3	2	152	2	48	2,377	4	63	2,657
2020	6	1	1	2	3	64	9	63	1,422	2	44	1,616
2021	7	-	-	-	1	62	4	57	1,018	1	37	1,187

Table 4 Afforestation Area by County 2007-2021
Hectares
Year	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Carlow	43	49	47	100	21	73	44	15	82	46	62	26	22	6	9
Cavan	300	197	260	243	204	171	210	241	277	425	317	321	167	185	160
Clare	669	695	564	521	484	480	347	420	568	552	518	262	352	168	174
Cork	1,024	1,006	799	1,157	1,035	1,041	672	690	663	608	420	297	423	293	343
Donegal	321	197	172	147	59	96	40	28	72	36	54	64	45	40	22
Dublin	18	11	-	-	1	20	-	12	8	3	11	4	35	13	-
Galway	403	263	318	561	300	336	419	387	432	331	400	287	279	96	144
Kerry	549	478	556	736	641	366	490	574	435	405	378	332	301	289	121
Kildare	79	17	111	86	141	220	48	90	29	13	33	79	25	32	42
Kilkenny	229	199	203	523	292	294	218	231	260	181	90	136	89	21	55
Laois	144	178	100	178	95	193	112	168	198	163	99	71	49	26	5
Leitrim	191	167	179	176	325	278	356	272	513	434	536	299	289	160	98
Limerick	373	441	329	411	381	281	243	122	177	329	99	81	156	66	60
Longford	124	86	87	243	174	178	255	225	286	272	201	171	62	124	70
Louth	55	65	65	46	19	51	26	-	22	40	22	10	1	2	-
Mayo	402	344	474	548	289	293	346	453	455	429	532	256	239	208	119
Meath	42	89	130	252	90	203	192	67	73	105	122	106	51	33	44
Monaghan	70	56	88	140	70	107	93	137	38	89	61	87	59	31	17
Offaly	135	242	324	279	268	263	174	128	156	136	166	72	76	38	25
Roscommon	309	352	398	360	311	252	431	449	343	435	431	399	315	273	190
Sligo	205	132	233	82	87	180	354	382	268	302	190	139	119	106	92
Tipperary	546	465	455	532	494	486	410	330	341	305	162	128	158	12	32
Waterford	310	156	245	264	204	128	138	122	125	240	163	43	49	46	33
Westmeath	141	145	200	203	251	271	241	236	204	281	207	175	77	45	49
Wexford	178	102	182	426	308	201	229	160	128	89	114	60	59	77	15
Wicklow	89	115	128	100	109	188	164	219	139	251	148	121	49	46	98

Total	6,947	6,249	6,648	8,314	6,653	6,652	6,252	6,156	6,293	6,500	5,536	4,025	3,550	2,434	2,016

Table 5A Number of Afforestation Parcels by Size Class 2007-2021
Number of Parcels
Year	0 - 5 ha	5 - 10 ha	10 - 20 ha	20 or more ha	Total
2007	439	269	177	50	935
2008	320	250	169	43	782
2009	276	286	181	48	791
2010	361	366	225	56	1,008
2011	393	285	177	40	895
2012	494	302	154	40	990
2013	487	302	143	32	964
2014	530	319	134	21	1,004
2015	510	291	163	24	988
2016	554	299	125	41	1,019
2017	484	257	134	26	901
2018	324	197	96	18	635
2019	249	140	100	19	508
2020	180	103	63	15	361
2021	142	81	46	15	284

Afforestation Area 2021