Forest & Woodland ecosystems covered 834,200 hectares in 2024, 11.9% of Ireland’s land area.
Tree cover density, a measure of how much of the forest area is occupied by tree canopies, has risen from 53.4% in 2018 to 55.3% in 2024.
The organic carbon content of the soil in forest ecosystems, measured to a depth of 30cm, decreased from 134.7 tonnes per hectare in 2018 to 133.5 tonnes per hectare in 2024. Despite the decline in tonnes per hectare, the increased forest area over this time period means that there was an overall increase in the carbon content of forest soils (measured to a depth of 30cm) from 103.7 million tonnes to 108.0 million tonnes.
Growing stock volume is a measure of the amount of woody biomass in a forest, and this has risen from 154.9 cubic metres in 2018, to 188.4 cubic metres per hectare in 2024.
Forest health can be affected by damage from a range of sources. The type of damage and total area damaged varied from year to year, with just under a thousand hectares damaged in 2024, the majority of which was due to diseases. In 2025, this area increased to 28,870 hectares, with 1,470 hectares damaged by disease, and 27,400 damaged by storm / wind.
Landscape naturalness is a measure of the degree to which a landscape has been modified by people. The landscape naturalness of our forest ecosystems remained relatively steady, with a small increase from 26.6% in 2018 to 26.8% in 2024.
Ecosystem condition indicators are measurable variables used to assess the health and functionality of ecosystems, focusing on aspects such as biodiversity, habitat quality, vegetation productivity, and landscape structure. They are structured in line with the UN System of Environmental-Economic Accounting – Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EA) framework, which provides a standardised approach for evaluating ecosystem extent, condition, and services.
Within this framework, indicators draw on the Ecosystem Condition Typology (ECT), a hierarchical classification that organises condition characteristics across six classes: physical, chemical, compositional, structural, functional, and landscape (see the Background Notes for more information). Together, these indicators offer a practical means of tracking long-term environmental change, identifying emerging pressures, and supporting evidence-based policy and conservation planning in Ireland.
The CSO would like to acknowledge the work of Daniel Fazekas, who worked with the Ecosystem Accounts team on this project as part of the CSO’s Graduate Programme. We wish to extend our appreciation and thanks to him for contributing to the analysis and production of this release.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (15 October 2026) published Forests and Woodlands – Condition Accounts 2024.
Commenting on the release, Nova Sharkey, Statistician in the Ecosystem Accounts Division of the CSO, said: “This Frontier Series release combines data from a range of sources to produce a suite of condition indicators that can provide an overview of the health and condition of Ireland’s Forest & Woodland ecosystems.
These indicators provide an assessment of various signs of vegetation health, forest productivity, and the impact of human activity on the naturalness of Ireland’s Forest & Woodland ecosystems. Together, these indicators offer a practical means of tracking long-term environmental change, identifying emerging pressures, and supporting evidence-based policy and conservation planning in Ireland.
Overall Results
Forest & Woodland ecosystems covered 834,200 hectares in 2024, 11.9% of Ireland’s land area. This is an increase of 6,600 hectares since 2018. Looking at some of the key indicators, we can see that the organic carbon content of the soil, measured to a depth of 30cm, in forest ecosystems decreased from 134.7 tonnes per hectare in 2018 to 133.5 tonnes per hectare in 2024. While there was a decline in tonnes per hectare, the increased forest area over this time period means there was an overall rise in the organic carbon content of forest soils (measured to a depth of 30cm) from 103.7 million tonnes to 108.0 million tonnes. When the whole depth (to a maximum of 100cm) of the soil is taken into account, organic carbon content grew from 246.9 million tonnes in 2018 to 252.1 million tonnes in 2024.
Tree cover density, which is a measure of how much of the forest area is occupied by tree canopies, has been on an upward trend in Ireland in recent years. Since 2018, tree cover density has grown from 53.4% in 2018 to 55.3% in 2024.
Growing stock volume is a measure of the amount of woody biomass in a forest, and this has also gone up since 2018, from 154.9 cubic metres per hectare to 188.4 cubic metres per hectare in 2024.
The condition of a forest can be affected by damage from a range of sources, such as diseases, wildfires, and storms or wind. The type of damage and total area damaged varied between 2018 and 2024, with just less than 1,000 hectares damaged in 2024, the majority of which was due to diseases. In 2025 the impact of Storm Darragh and Storm Éowyn saw the area of damage increase to 28,870 hectares, with 1,470 hectares damaged by disease, and 27,400 damaged by storm / wind.
Landscape naturalness is a measure of the degree to which a landscape has been modified by people. The landscape naturalness of our forest ecosystems has remained relatively steady with a small increase from 26.6% in 2018 to 26.8% in 2024.
The Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), a measure of vegetation greenness and the level of photosynthetic activity in vegetation, indicates how well plants are growing. NDVI values were consistent across the reference years at 0.78.
The Normalised Difference Moisture Index (NDMI) is a measure of the water content in plants, with low or negative values indicating water stress and high values indicating no water stress. For Forest & Woodland, the mean NDMI for all types of forest was 0.36 in 2018 and 2021, increasing to 0.39 in 2024.
See the Background Notes for more information on the methodology used to compile each of these indicators.”