Decrease in the area of notified fellings in September

Nyhet | Statistik - 13 October 2026

September saw a 14 percent decrease in the area notified or applied for felling, compared to September 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 19,303 hectares in September, which was 14 percent less compared to September 2025. Of this area, applications for permits for felling of montane forests represented 350 hectares, compared with 161 hectares in the same month last year.

Compared to the average area of notifications and applications for the country in September over the previous five years, this is a decrease of 27 percent.

Notifications and applications on the regional level in September

The area of notifications and applications remained unchanged in Northern Norrland, while it decreased in all other regions. The largest decrease was in Götaland.

• Northern Norrland - increase of 34 hectares (+1 percent)
• Southern Norrland - decrease of 913 hectares (-15 percent)
• Svealand - decrease of 649 hectares (-12 percent)
• Götaland - decrease of 1,575 hectares (-28 percent)

A 10 percent decrease in the area covered by notifications and applications so far this year

From January to September, the area of notifications and applications for permits for felling was 169,196 hectares, which is a decrease of 10 percent compared to the same period last year. In Northern Norrland and in Götaland the area notified and applied for has decreased by 11 and 41 percent respectively. In Southern Norrland, the area notified and applied for has instead increased by 10 percent. In Svealand the area is unchanged, compared to September 2025. On regional level, the area has decreased in all counties except for the counties of Dalarna and Gävleborg.

The average area of notifications and applications for the country as a whole show a decrease of 8 percent, compared to the corresponding period for the preceding five-year period.

So far this year, the area concerning applications for permits for felling of montane forests is 4,461 hectares, for the corresponding period last year the area was 2,920 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 was just over 70 percent larger for the period January to September than during 2025. In Gävleborg County, the notified area was just over two and a half times the size of the area notified for the period from January to September compared with the corresponding period in 2025.

The accumulated areas can vary significantly between both months and years.

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.