--- title: "How many trees are there in the world? about 3 trillion" description: "about 3 trillion How the figure is estimated, how confident it is, and what makes the scale graspable." url: https://atoneplace.net/how-many/trees-on-earth/ site: "At One Place" --- # How many trees are there in the world? **How many trees are there in the world?: about 3 trillion** That is about 370 trees for every person alive. The same study estimated the world has lost roughly 46% of its trees since the start of human civilisation. A 2015 study in Nature put the global total at 3.04 trillion trees, with a stated uncertainty of about ±0.1 trillion. The previous best guess had been 400 billion, so the new figure was almost eight times higher — not because there are more trees than anyone thought, but because the old number came from satellite-estimated forest area rather than from ground counts of stems. Roughly 45% of the total is in the tropics and about 24% in the boreal forest. Around 15 billion trees are cut down each year and about 5 billion regrow. ## How the figure is arrived at Combine 429,775 ground plots where somebody physically counted the stems with satellite imagery that maps forest cover. The plots give trees per hectare for a given forest type and climate; the satellites give how many hectares of that type exist. A tree was defined as a woody stem at least 10 cm in diameter at breast height, which is why the number would change enormously under a different definition. ## How confident it is - **Low estimate:** 2,900,000,000,000 - **High estimate:** 3,200,000,000,000 - **Spread:** 1.1× between the bounds ## Other living things and the natural world counts - [How many people are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/people-alive-right-now/) — about 8.2 billion - [How many grains of sand are there on Earth?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/grains-of-sand-on-earth/) — roughly 7.5 quintillion on the world's beaches - [How many ants are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/ants-on-earth/) — about 20 quadrillion - [How many insects are there?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/insects-on-earth/) — about 10 quintillion - [How many species are there?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/species-on-earth/) — about 8.7 million - [How many people have ever lived?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/people-who-have-ever-lived/) — about 117 billion - [How many drops of water are there in the ocean?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/drops-of-water-in-the-ocean/) — about 27 septillion - [How many fish are there in the sea?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/fish-in-the-sea/) — somewhere between 3 trillion and 100 trillion — nobody knows - [How many species are endangered?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/endangered-species/) — more than 45,000 assessed as threatened - [How many bees are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/bees-in-the-world/) — roughly 2 trillion managed honey bees - [How many birds are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/birds-in-the-world/) — about 50 billion wild birds - [How many bacteria are there on Earth?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/bacteria-on-earth/) — about 5 nonillion - [How many earthquakes are there each year?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/earthquakes-a-year/) — about 20,000 located a year — around 55 a day - [How many chickens are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/chickens-in-the-world/) — about 26 billion alive at any moment ## Common questions ### How many trees are there in the world? about 3 trillion ### How is that estimated? Combine 429,775 ground plots where somebody physically counted the stems with satellite imagery that maps forest cover. The plots give trees per hectare for a given forest type and climate; the satellites give how many hectares of that type exist. A tree was defined as a woody stem at least 10 cm in diameter at breast height, which is why the number would change enormously under a different definition. ## Related pages - [How many people are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/people-alive-right-now/) - [How many grains of sand are there on Earth?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/grains-of-sand-on-earth/) - [How many ants are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/ants-on-earth/) - [How many insects are there?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/insects-on-earth/) - [How many species are there?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/species-on-earth/) - [How many people have ever lived?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/people-who-have-ever-lived/) - [How many drops of water are there in the ocean?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/drops-of-water-in-the-ocean/) - [How many fish are there in the sea?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/fish-in-the-sea/) - [How many stars are there in the universe?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/stars-in-the-universe/) - [How many countries are there in the world?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/countries/) - [How many bones are in the human body?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/bones-in-the-human-body/) - [How many stars are there in the Milky Way?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/stars-in-the-milky-way/) - [How many atoms are there in the universe?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/atoms-in-the-universe/) - [How many galaxies are there?](https://atoneplace.net/how-many/galaxies-in-the-universe/) ## Sources - Typical range compiled from manufacturer specifications — At One Place (/about/)