The trend of fewer forest owners and larger holdings continues

Nyhet | Statistik - 26 May 2025

The proportion of declared productive forest land area in the size class greater than 1,000 hectares has increased from 50 to 55 percent between 1999 and 2024. The increase has been particularly notable among Individual owners, where the area in holdings over 1,000 hectares has more than doubled, according to statistics from the Swedish Forest Agency.

Individual owners (natural persons, estates and small privately owned companies) own roughly half (48 percent) of the declared productive forest land area. The second largest group of owners is private-sector companies/corporations (24 percent) followed by public owners (22 percent) while Other private owners account for six percent of the declared productive forest land area.

The size of the holding per owner has been calculated and includes all land regardless of where it is located. The holding can therefore also be distributed among different size classes and owner classes. Across all ownership classes, the proportion of declared productive forest land area in holdings larger than 1,000 hectares increased from 50 to 55 percent between 1999 and 2024. However, the area of declared productive forest land per holding varies between different ownership classes and during the same period, the corresponding proportion for individual owners increased from 4 to 8 percent and for Other private owners from 84 to 92 percent. In other ownership classes, the trend has been relatively stable from 1999 to 2024 and by 2024, public owners, private-sector companies/corporations and other private owners all had 90 percent or more of their holdings in the category over 1,000 hectares. For other public owners, the corresponding proportion was 79 percent.

The size of holdings within Individual owners is more evenly distributed. During the last 10 years, for individual owners, the area within holdings from five to 100 hectares decreased, while it increased in holdings over 100 hectares. The largest area is found in the size classes larger than 50 hectares up to 100 hectares and in the class larger than 100 hectares up to 200 hectares, with approximately 2.2 million productive forest land in each class.

Number of forest owners

The number of newly registered Natural person forest owners in 2024 was 8,646, which is the lowest figure recorded since 2011. The total number Natural persons owning forest land in Sweden in 2024 was 308,565, and 98 percent were registered as living in Sweden.

Of all forest owners (natural persons) in the country in 2024, 59.6 percent were men and 38.7 percent women. For 1.7 percent, gender information is missing.

There are some regional differences, and the proportions vary between counties. In 2024, the average age of forest owners (natural persons) was 61 years, regardless of gender. Regionally, average age varies slightly between counties, ranging from 60 to 63 years.