One hundred and twenty-six countries and territories representing 73 percent of the global forest area replied to the 1953 questionnaire. For the remaining countries information from the replies to the 1947 questionnaire were used for 10 other countries (3% of the global forest area) and official statistics were used for the remaining 57 countries (24% of the global forest area).

Major findings

• Total forest cover (global): 3.8 billion hectares
• Net forest change: not reported