Facts on the survey of silvicultural activities
The statistics cover areas included in forest management plans, areas managed using continuous-cover forestry, and the number of seedlings used for supplementary planting. The statistics also include data on ash recycling and are presented in aggregate for all ownership classes, broken down by area and by the weight of spread ash, in tonnes of dry matter, by region of Sweden.
Definitions and explanations
Large-scale forestry
Large-scale forestry is defined as landowners with forest holdings of at least 5,000 hectares. In 2025, the population consisted of 115 organizations or private individuals.
Small-scale forestry
Small-scale forestry is defined as management units that do not belong to large-scale forestry and that comprise at least 6 hectares of forest land. In 2025, the population consisted of approximately 166,000 management units.
Management unit
A management unit is defined under the Forestry Act (SKSFS 1993:553) as all forest properties in the same municipality with the same ownership structure. The survey includes management units with at least 6 hectares of forest land.
Public owners
Aggregation of the classes the State, state-owned limited companies and other public owners.
The State
Government agencies, funds, foundations and similar entities whose remit includes managing state-owned Swedish forest property.
State-owned limited companies
Limited companies in which more than 50 percent of the shares are managed by the Swedish Government Offices.
Other public owners
Municipalities and county councils, as well as limited companies in which they own more than 50 percent. This category also includes foundations, funds and similar entities.
Private owners
Aggregation of the classes privately owned limited companies, individual owners and other private owners.
Privately owned limited companies
Limited companies that are neither state-owned nor owned by municipalities or county councils according to the definition under Other public owners.
Individual owners
Natural persons, estates of deceased persons and companies that are not limited companies.
Other private owners
Religious communities, including the Church of Sweden, foundations, funds and similar entities that are not included among public owners. This category also includes economic and non-profit associations, village commons, jointly owned forests, forest commons and similar entities.
Other owners
The category Other owners sometimes appears in the tables and then refers to the sum of the ownership categories that are not specifically mentioned in the table. This means that the content of the category may vary between tables.
How we produce the statistics
All data in the survey is based on questionnaires. For large-scale forestry, a total population survey is carried out, covering approximately 100 to 120 of the largest forest owners in the country. The survey of small-scale forestry is conducted as a sample survey with approximately 2,500 respondents. Forest owners with more than 5,000 hectares of productive forest land submit their data using an Excel file. For other forest owners, who account for most of private forestry and a significant share of public forest owners, the Swedish Forest Agency conducts an annual random sample survey in which landowners respond via a web questionnaire.
For ash recycling, the data are based on a total population survey of representative companies and contractors that carried out ash recycling during the reference period. These data providers were contacted by email and telephone and submitted their responses by county in an Excel file.
Together, these surveys provide an overall picture of measures in Swedish forestry.
Reliability of the statistics
Scope of the survey
Data on measures carried out in the forest are based on three questionnaires. The questionnaires are designed so that, together, they cover almost all forestry. Formally protected forest land is not included in the survey.
Non-response and imputation
The questionnaire sent to large-scale forestry had a non-response rate of approximately 6 percent in 2025. The responses are considered to be of good quality.
Non-response is handled by imputing responses from previous years, where such data is available. Where previous years’ responses are not available, weighted mean imputation is used, based on forest ownership by county.
Since 2019, the survey of small-scale forestry has been conducted as a web questionnaire. Previously, it was conducted as a telephone interview. Non-response increased after the change in method, and the response rate fell from 72 to 52 percent.
In 2020, the questionnaire was simplified, and it became possible to respond by telephone. The response rate then increased to 64 percent. For 2025, the response rate was 62 percent.
It is uncertain whether telephone interviews would have resulted in a higher response rate, since it has become more difficult to reach landowners by telephone. The estimates are nevertheless considered to be of sufficient quality for publication. Point estimates with a relative standard error above 20 percent are usually not published. Most point estimates have a lower relative standard error than this.
Specific uncertainties
The data for small-scale forestry contain some uncertainty because they are based on a sample survey. This uncertainty is presented, among other things, as margins of error together with the point estimates from 2019 onwards.
There is uncertainty in the data on supplementary planting and planting as to whether respondents interpret the questions correctly. It is possible that supplementary planting is reported either also, or only under planting.
The Swedish Forest Agency has previously studied pre-commercial thinning. The results showed an overestimation, probably due to measurement error, where individual private forestry reported excessively large areas of pre-commercial thinning. The estimate is therefore not updated after 2021. For data on cleared area, users are referred to the statistics from the Swedish National Forest Inventory.
Reporting levels
Totals for the whole country and for all ownership classes are of higher quality than more detailed estimates. The relative standard error is approximately 5 percent.
Estimates by region of Sweden usually have a relative standard error of approximately 10 percent. For ownership classes, the relative standard error is approximately 3 percent for public and private owners. For individual owners, the relative standard error is approximately 10 percent.
The higher standard error for individual owners is due to there being relatively few individual owners in large-scale forestry. A larger share of these estimates therefore comes from the sample survey.
Since 2019, three-year averages are no longer presented, as they have not been justified for quality reasons. At the same time, the presentation was condensed to region of Sweden and is no longer presented by county.
Margins of error in the statistics
From the publication of statistics for 2019 onwards, margins of error are presented together with the results. The purpose is to make it easier for users to assess the uncertainty in the estimates.
The margin of error provides an estimate of the statistical uncertainty around an estimated value. The margins of error presented correspond to 95 percent confidence intervals. This means that if the survey were repeated a large number of times, approximately 95 percent of the calculated intervals would contain the true, but unknown, value.
The margins of error are published in the Swedish Forest Agency’s statistical database.
Good to know
The boundaries between large-scale and small-scale forestry are fluid. A company may belong to small-scale forestry in one year and to large-scale forestry in another. Population membership is determined by the area thresholds that define the populations. Changes between years within, for example, large-scale forestry may therefore partly be due to companies moving between populations.
The survey is part of Sweden’s Official Statistics and has product number JO0301 Silvicultural activities.
Other statistics on silvicultural measures
The Swedish National Forest Inventory produces statistics describing how silvicultural measures develop over time. The data are calculated from a sample and therefore have statistical uncertainty. Other errors are considered to be small.
Most data in the Swedish National Forest Inventory are collected at sample plot level, not at stand level. In some cases, this affects the level of the results and makes it more difficult to compare the data directly with this survey.
Swedish National Forest Inventory - Statistics Database
The Quality of Regrowth survey from the Swedish Forest Agency describes the quality of regeneration and the conditions for future forest production. The inventory records, among other things, the number of approved main stems by tree species, soil scarification method and regeneration method.
The Swedish forest agency - Quality of Regrowth
Electronic publication
All results are available in the Swedish Forest Agency’s statistical database. There, users can compile and download data in the desired format or view the data directly on screen.