It's International Day of Forests, a global celebration of trees and woodland that dates back to 2007.

But which countries boast the most?

The map below shows the world according to forest area as a percentage of total land area, based on statistics published by World Bank Open Data and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

The most recently available figures are from 2016 – so a little out of date. It is safe to assume that tree cover in most countries has fallen during the past three years. After all, 31.8 per cent of the world was covered in forest back in 1990; by 2016 that had fallen to 30.8 per cent. The downward trend is likely to have continued.

Nevertheless they provide a good comparison between different countries, and offer a fine guide to the best places to visit if you're a fan of the woods. 

Unsurprisingly, the tropical lands of South America, the Caribbean, Africa, south-east Asia and the South Pacific dominate, with Suriname, Micronesia, Palau, Gabon, Guyana, American Samoa and the Solomon Islands all in the top 10. But some more northerly countries fare well too, with Finland (73.1 per cent forest area) 11th, Sweden (68.9 per cent) 16th, and Japan (68.5 per cent) 18th.

A third of the United States is classed as forest, while in Britain it's 13 per cent.

The world's 20 most tree-filled countries

1. Suriname - 98% covered in forest
2. Micronesia - 92%
3. Gabon - 90%
4. Seychelles - 88%
5. American Samoa - 88%
6. Palau - 88%
7. Guyana - 84%
8. Laos - 82%
9. Solomon Islands - 77%
10. Papua New Guinea - 74%
11. Finland - 73%
12. Bhutan - 72%
13. Brunei - 71%
14. Guinea-Bissau - 70%
15. Marshall Islands - 70%
16. Sweden - 69%
17. St Vincent and the Grenadines - 69%
18. Japan - 68%
19. Malaysia - 68%
20. Democratic Republic of the Congo - 67%

And the least tree-filled countries? There are five places with no forest whatsoever, according to World Bank's definition* - Nauru, San Marino, Qatar, Greenland and Gibraltar - while in a further 12 places there is less than one per cent.

The four destinations with no forest whatsoever

1. San Marino
2. Nauru
3. Greenland
4. Qatar
5. Gibraltar

The 20 places with the fewest trees

1. Oman - less than 1% covered in forest
2. Faroe Islands - less than 1% 
3. Egypt - less than 1%
4. Libya - less than 1%
5. Mauritania - less than 1%
6. Djibouti - less than 1%
7. Iceland - less than 1%
8. Kuwait - less than 1%
9. Saudi Arabia - less than 1%
10. Bahrain - less than 1%
11. Algeria - less than 1%
12. Niger - less than 1%
13. Malta - 1%
14. Yemen - 1%
15. Jordan - 1%
16. Kazakhstan - 1%
17. Lesotho - 2%
18. Iraq - 2%
19. Afghanistan - 2%
20. Pakistan - 2%

Tap on the map to find out the exact figure for each country.

*Data, from 2016, includes "land under natural or planted stands of trees of at least five meters in situ, whether productive or not, and excludes tree stands in agricultural production systems (for example, in fruit plantations and agroforestry systems) and trees in urban parks and gardens".

Which countries are killing their forest fastest?

Some of the sharpest falls in forest area since 1990 have been seen in, unsurprisingly, those places where forest is widespread. Brazil, for example, has cut its forest area from 65.4 per cent to 58.9 per cent. Colombia's tree cover has fallen from 58.1 per cent to 52.7 per cent. Honduras trumps them both with a remarkable fall in forest area from 72.7 per cent to 40 per cent.

Here are a few other nations that fare poorly:

• Benin - down 13%
• Bolivia - down 8%
• Cambodia - down - 12%
• Dominica - down 9%
• Equatorial Guinea - down 11%
• Guatemala - down 12%
• Indonesia - down 15%
• Myanmar - down 16%
• Nigeria - down 11%
• North Korea - down 27%
• Tanzania - down 12%
• Timor-Leste - down 19%
• Uganda - down 14%
• Zimbabwe - down 22%

Conversely, forest area has increased elsewhere. China, for example, 16.7 per cent to 22.5 per cent, and France, from 26.3 per cent to 31.2 per cent. And the UK? It's up, apparently, from 11.5 per cent in 1990 to 13.1 per cent in 2016.