In the Food and Agriculture Organization's Global Forest Resources Assessment 2025, India moved to the 9th position globally in terms of total forest area. India was ranked 10th in the previous assessment, so the change is important for understanding India's position in forest and environment-linked indicators. India also continued to hold the 3rd position worldwide in annual net forest area gain. India's total forest area is reported at about 72.7 million hectares, or 72,739 thousand hectares, which is roughly 2% of the world's total forest area.
The global context is equally useful for exam preparation. The world's total forest area is about 4.14 billion hectares, covering around 32% of Earth's land area. The annual rate of net forest loss declined from 10.7 million hectares in 1990-2000 to 4.12 million hectares in 2015-2025. This links the update directly with topics such as forest conservation, afforestation and sustainable forest management under environment and climate change.
India was also ranked 5th among the top global carbon sinks; during 2021-2025, India's forests removed 150 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. For prelims, the likely focus areas are the report, ranking, organization and figures. For mains, the same update can support analysis on forest governance, biodiversity, carbon sinks, climate policy and the balance between development and environmental protection. For static GK, it should be linked with forest resources, forest types, afforestation, the carbon cycle and environmental governance in India.