Forest Fertilization returns to previous level again in 2024

Nyhet | Statistik - 02 September 2025

Forest fertilization increased significantly in 2024, covering about 40,000 hectares, compared with 15,000 hectares the year before. This is a statistically significant increase from the record-low level in 2022 and signals a return to levels last seen before the start of the war in Ukraine.

Over the past 30 years the area where fertilization has been conducted has varied considerably, from a low of 10,000 hectares in 2022 to as much as 80,000 hectares in 2010. The sharp decline between 2021 and 2022 can be explained by rising fertilizer prices due to the war in Ukraine.

Minor changes in forest regeneration measures in 2024

Forest regeneration measures continued to decline in 2024. The area of mechanical soil scarification decreased from 167,800 hectares to 160,800 hectares, and the planted area decreased from 188,700 to 180,400 hectares. The Swedish Forest Agency has monitored the development of forest regeneration since 1955, including both planting and sowing. In total, 192,000 hectares were regenerated, a decrease from 198,700 hectares the year before. However, the differences between 2023 and 2024 are within the statistical margin of error and are therefore not statistically significant.

With regards to supplementary seedlings, there has been a successive decrease since the peak year of 2019 with 58 million supplementary seedlings. The decreasing trend between 2020 and 2023 was broken in 2024 and the use of supplementary planting has now increased again.

It should be noted that the differences between 2023 and 2024 fall within the statistical margin of error and are therefore not statistically significant.

Continuous-cover forestry

In 2024, continuous‑cover forestry amounted to  733,000 hectares in Sweden, of which approximately 535,000 hectares were on privately owned land and 198,000 hectares on other ownerships. When taking into account a 95% confidence interval, the estimate for 2024 was 618,000–847,000 hectares, compared with 666,000–891,000 hectares in 2023. Because these intervals overlap, no statistically significant change can be confirmed between the two years, even though the point estimate suggests a decline from 778,000 hectares in 2023 to 733,000 hectares in 2024.The Swedish Forest Agency has been surveying the extent of continuous-cover forestry since 2020. The survey does not focus on individual continuous-cover practices but rather on the extent to which landowners intend to manage their land so that it remains continuously forested without creating large clear-cut areas.

Ash recycling

Since last year, ash recycling has been included as part of the statistics regarding silviculture in forestry and is also a part of Sweden’s official statistics. The results show that ash recycling in 2024 was carried out on nearly 16,400 hectares and that 50,300 tonnes of ash (dry matter) were spread. This is the second highest area since the measurements began in 2009. Compared to 2023, there was an increase in ash recycling in Götaland while there was a decrease in Svealand.

During the period 2009–2024, on average 79 percent of all ash recycling was carried out in Götaland, 19 percent in Svealand, and 2 percent in Norrland.

Explanations regarding the statistics

The statistics from the Swedish Forest Agency regarding silvicultural activities are based on three components: a random sample survey of small-scale forestry (owners of less than 5 000 hectares of productive forest land), a total population survey of large-scale forestry (owning more than 5 000 hectares) and a comprehensive survey of ash recycling on forest land.

It is important to note that some estimates are presented together with statistical margins of error. The margin of error provides an indication of the uncertainty surrounding the estimate. When a margin of error is reported, it represents a 95 percent confidence interval. This means that if the survey was to be repeated many times, 95 percent of the calculated intervals would contain the true but unknown value. The size of the interval depends on the number of observations in the sample and the variability of the variable. Margins of error are not always included in written communications but are available in the Swedish Forest Agency’s statistical database together with the estimates.