Decrease in the area of notified fellings in August

Nyhet | Statistik - 15 September 2026

August saw a 19 percent decrease in the area notified or applied for felling, compared to August 2025.

Experience has shown that statistics regarding notifications and applications can vary from month to month due to the forestry planning of various stakeholders. It is therefore important to be careful when analyzing the monthly data and to not draw conclusions about the planned felling.

The area of received notifications and applications for permits for felling was 15,312 hectares in August, which was 19 percent less compared to August 2025. Of this area, applications for permits for felling of montane forests represented 438 hectares, compared with 137 hectares in the same month last year.

Compared to the average area of notifications and applications for the country in August over the previous five years, this is a decrease of 32 percent.

Notifications and applications on the regional level in August

The area of notifications and applications decreased in all regions.

The largest decreases were in Southern Norrland and Götaland, with 20 and 28 percent respectively, compared to the area for August 2025.

• Northern Norrland – decrease of 768 hectares (-14 percent),
• Southern Norrland – decrease of 1,090 hectares (-20 percent),
• Svealand – decrease of 705 hectares (-16 percent),
• Götaland – decrease of 1,091 hectares (-28 percent).

A 9 percent decrease in the area covered by notifications and applications so far this year

From January to August, the area of notifications and applications for permits for felling was 149,885 hectares, which is a decrease of 9 percent compared to the same period last year. In Northern Norrland and in Götaland the area notified and applied for has decreased by 13 and 43 percent respectively. In Southern Norrland, the area notified and applied for has instead increased by 13 percent. In Svealand the area is unchanged, compared to August 2025. On regional level, the area has decreased in all counties except Dalarna and Gävleborg counties.

The average area of notifications and applications for the country as a whole show a decrease of 5 percent, compared to the corresponding period in the preceding five-year period.

So far this year, the area concerning applications for permits for felling of montane forests is 4,111 hectares, for the corresponding period last year the area was 2,759 hectares.

Notifications in counties affected by the storm “Johannes”

On December 27, 2025, Sweden was affected by the storm Johannes. From January to April the area notified for felling increased sharply in the counties of Dalarna and Gävleborg compared to the same period last year. However, the area has decreased since April.

The accumulated area for Dalarna County in 2026 is almost twice as large as that for the period from January to August 2025. For Gävleborg County, the notified area is almost two and a half times the size of the area notified from January to August 2025.

The accumulated areas can vary significantly between both months and years. Therefore, in Table 1, we have compared the average of the accumulated areas for the years 2021–2025 with the area covered by notifications received during the corresponding period in 2026.

Explanation

An increase or decrease in notifications and applications for permits for felling does not necessarily mean that the area of actual felling has increased or decreased to the same extent.

Statistics refer to total notifications for felling and applications for permission on forest land for felling in montane forest and valuable broad-leaved forest.

Please note that the monthly statistics are preliminary and will be final approximately two months after they are published.

The statistics are part of the Official statistics of Sweden.

We publish all results in our statistical database.