Description of Ownership of forest land statistics

Compiler: Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) since 1 January 2015. The Finnish Forest Research Institute (Metla) has previously compiled the statistics.
Statistics home page: Ownership of forest land 
Main topic: Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery
Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Yes
European Statistical System (ESS): No

Description

The statistics give information on the number and forest land area of private forest properties as well as forest property entities owned by private persons and other groups.

Content

The statistics contain information on the number of forest properties and forest property entities classified by size and forest land area. With regard to ownership by private persons, this data is presented at a national level or by region (operating areas of the Finnish Forest Centre or regions). Information on other ownership categories is only given at national level.

For private forest property entities, the statistics also provide an estimate of the number of owners in Finland as well as regional information on the average size of holdings exceeding 2 hectares in size.

Categories

Forest property entity refers to all the Finnish forest holdings of the same owner or owners. The data is presented regarding forest property entities of at least one hectare of forest land until 2013. From 2013 onwards, the data is also available regarding entities of less than one hectare.

Forest holdings only include those farms registered by the Finnish Tax Administration that have forest land. A farm refers to an independent economic unit engaging in agricultural or forestry production. Most farms registered by the Finnish Tax Administration engage only in forestry and have no agricultural production. A forest property (farm) may consist of several properties and/or plots containing forest land.

Forest land refers to land that is available for wood production where the average annual increment of the growing stock of fully stocked trees suitable for the area during the rotation period that provides the greatest yield is, at minimum, 1 m³ over bark per hectare.

Forest property entities are classified by size based on forest land area. In the statistics, a forest property entity is recorded for the region (operating areas of the Finnish Forest Centre or regions) that is located in the owner’s permanent place of residence. In the case of spouses, the place of residence is that of the elder spouse.

Holdings consist of forest property entities located in the area of a single owner (forest management associations until 2013 and regions starting from 2013). Forest properties that spouses do not own together are always considered as separate forest holdings. Forest holdings are recorded for the municipality in which they are located.

Privately owned forests include forests owned by 1) a private person alone or with his/her spouse, 2) an undistributed estate of a deceased person, and 3) real property partnerships.

Data collection and sources

The statistics are compiled from the records of the Finnish Tax Administration. It is a total statistic of the ownership and land area of all properties in Finland. The figures were calculated by the Tax Administration until 2013. In 2019, the calculations transferred to the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) which calculated the results using unit-specific data obtained from the Tax Administration starting from 2013. At this stage, the calculations were specified, resulting in a break in the time series. Data from 2013 about the whole country is available using the previous method (table of operating areas of the Finnish Forest Centre) and using the new method (table of regional distribution).

Update frequency

The statistics are compiled annually for the calendar year.

Preparation and publication schedule

Taxation is completed in the November following the reporting year, and these statistics are published during the following January. The delay between the completion of the taxation for the year and the publication of the statistics is about 13 months.

Time series

Information on privately owned forest property entities is available from 2006, and on all forms of ownership from 2010 onwards. Information on the number and area of privately owned farms is available from 2009 onwards. Due to changes in calculation methods, there is a break in the time series in 2013.