Forest ownership patterns and trends vary widely across regions and countries. Due to the vast areas of public forests in the Russian Federation, in Europe as a whole, 90% of forest area is public and 10% is privately owned. Excluding the Russian Federation, almost half of Europe’s forest area is privately owned. The number of private forest holdings, currently more than 11 million, continues to grow, mainly due to the ongoing restitution process in some European countries as well as fragmentation due to inheritance laws.
More than 90% of the forests in Europe are open to public access, and the area of forest available for recreation is increasing. A very large number of archaeological sites, nature monuments, and other sites of cultural and spiritual value are found in forests.
From the mid-1990s to 2005, wood consumption per capita increased, reaching 1.1 cubic metres in 2005. The figure below shows wood consumption per capita in 2005. At the same time, Europe has become a net exporter of wood products to other regions. Large and increasing volumes of wood are used for energy. Forestry activities, wood industries, and the pulp and paper industry combined contribute about 1% to the gross domestic product in Europe as a whole, but substantially more in certain countries. The total added value and the net revenue of forestry activities remain stable.
Employment in forestry continues to decrease in Europe. In 2005, employment in forestry activities, wood industries and pulp and paper industries accounted for 1.1% of total employment in Europe, corresponding to 4.3 million people.
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