Forest owners' income

Updated: 19 March 2024

Next update: 19 March 2025

Average entrepreneurial income from forestry
Average entrepreneurial income from forestry
2022
67 000
NOK
Numbers of forest owners and average entrepreneurial income from forestry. Comprises personal forest owners with positive entrepreneurial income from forestry
Numbers of forest owners and average entrepreneurial income from forestry. Comprises personal forest owners with positive entrepreneurial income from forestry1
20222021 - 2022
Number of ownersNOKChange in entrepreneurial income, per cent
Total17 81667 0008.1
Productive forest area
25-99 decares1 39027 00017.4
100-249 decares3 08337 00037.0
250-499 decares3 72838 000-2.6
500-999 decares4 07256 0003.7
1 000-1 999 decares3 13779 00011.3
2 000-4 999 decares1 830121 0002.5
5 000-19 999 decares523290 0003.2
20 000 decares or more53855 0005.7
1The statistics are based on data from tax statistics for personal taxpayers.
Explanation of symbols

Selected tables and charts from this statistics

  • Average incomes, debt, gross wealth and assessed taxes for personal forest owners with positive entrepreneurial income from forestry. NOK
    Average incomes, debt, gross wealth and assessed taxes for personal forest owners with positive entrepreneurial income from forestry. NOK1
    Forest owners with positive entrepreneurial income from forestryGross income2 DebtTaxable gross wealthAssessed taxPersonal income, salaries and pensionsPersonal income, salariesTotal entreprenurial incomeOf this entrepreneurial income forestryOther income
    2022
    The whole country17 816981 0002 873 0006 296 000270 000437 000352 000434 00067 000110 000
    County
    Oslo and Viken4 6861 182 0003 130 0009 265 000358 000502 000405 000497 00079 000184 000
    Innlandet4 581995 0003 066 0006 082 000268 000398 000316 000485 00094 000112 000
    Vestfold og Telemark (2020-2023)1 722998 0002 476 0006 219 000284 000495 000397 000401 00058 000102 000
    Agder1 098811 0002 173 0004 318 000207 000457 000366 000275 00066 00079 000
    Rogaland365962 0003 194 0006 199 000256 000418 000348 000443 00038 000100 000
    Vestland1 294836 0001 829 0004 465 000216 000413 000329 000345 00031 00079 000
    Møre og Romsdal599760 0002 449 0004 141 000185 000392 000312 000332 00035 00036 000
    Trøndelag - Trööndelage3 140835 0003 185 0004 239 000202 000392 000325 000398 00038 00044 000
    Nordland - Nordlánnda291797 0002 490 0005 023 000191 000319 000236 000427 00052 00050 000
    Troms og Finnmark - Romsa ja Finnmárku (2020-2023)40873 0002 379 0003 592 000215 000395 000307 000315 00027 000163 000
    Productive forest area
    25-99 decares1 390935 0002 459 0004 663 000243 000446 000349 000400 00027 00090 000
    100-249 decares3 083921 0002 573 0005 067 000246 000442 000352 000398 00037 00081 000
    250-499 decares3 728912 0002 726 0005 021 000243 000433 000353 000397 00038 00081 000
    500-999 decares4 072933 0002 727 0005 383 000250 000419 000334 000432 00056 00083 000
    1 000-1 999 decares3 137986 0002 894 0006 817 000269 000436 000351 000422 00079 000128 000
    2 000-4 999 decares1 8301 105 0003 152 0009 332 000336 000462 000382 000492 000121 000151 000
    5 000-19 999 decares5231 510 0005 089 00015 879 000478 000467 000383 000623 000290 000420 000
    20 000 decares or more534 474 00019 935 00050 191 0001 455 000532 000484 0003 145 000855 000797 000
    1The statistics are based on data from tax statistics for personal taxpayers.
    2Gross income is total taxable wages, salaries, pensions, entreprenurial income and property income.]
    Explanation of symbols
  • Incomes, debt, gross wealth and assessed taxes for personal forest owners with at least 25 decares productive forest area. NOK million
    Incomes, debt, gross wealth and assessed taxes for personal forest owners with at least 25 decares productive forest area. NOK million
    Number of forest ownersGross income1 DebtTaxable gross wealthAssessed taxPersonal income, salaries and pensionsPersonal income, salariesTotal entreprenurial incomeOf this entrepreneurial income forestryOther income
    2022
    In total115 87491 171188 181666 49825 40260 95942 77416 8571 18513 355
    County
    Oslo and Viken20 94321 23745 114218 4896 79512 4529 1284 1103704 675
    Innlandet17 02012 89830 02673 7793 3077 8555 5723 4374321 606
    Vestfold og Telemark (2020-2023)8 7287 32814 58047 8322 0674 8743 5531 3181001 136
    Agder9 3566 81213 03347 0851 8195 0403 497749721 023
    Rogaland5 5414 99411 97333 6271 4103 1522 2921 10514737
    Vestland15 86911 84020 21777 5143 2418 5155 9711 715401 609
    Møre og Romsdal8 1125 74110 50232 9871 5124 1872 91488721667
    Trøndelag - Trööndelage13 3269 88225 99164 3012 5956 5754 9012 345120962
    Nordland - Nordlánnda8 8795 4399 53939 5731 3954 2682 51074315428
    Troms og Finnmark - Romsa ja Finnmárku (2020-2023)8 1005 0017 20631 3101 2614 0402 4374491511
    Productive forest area
    25-99 decares38 69927 90649 928202 1617 69620 85613 8713 188383 863
    100-249 decares30 38122 68844 362148 9276 13816 09311 1753 6281152 967
    250-499 decares20 40815 84933 90996 2154 23010 5997 6343 1831412 067
    500-999 decares14 57412 23727 48293 6763 4517 3645 4283 0972271 776
    1 000-1 999 decares7 5997 25917 22369 8362 2193 8412 9342 0402461 377
    2 000-4 999 decares3 3583 76810 05234 8581 1881 7551 3761 149221864
    5 000-19 999 decares7801 1483 87114 835362401310384152363
    20 000 decares or more753161 3545 99011950461884578
    1Gross income is total taxable wages, salaries, pensions, entreprenurial income and property income.]
    Explanation of symbols
  • Entrepreneurial income forestry for personal forest owners, by size of income
    Entrepreneurial income forestry for personal forest owners, by size of income1
    20212022
    Entrepreneurial income forestry. NOK millionForest owners with positive entrepreneurial incomeEntrepreneurial income forestry. NOK millionForest owners with positive entrepreneurial income
    Total1 09417 6471 18517 816
    Entrepreneurial income forestry
    1 - 49 000 NOK18813 28118812 993
    50 000 - 99 999 NOK1462 0591622 269
    100 000 - 249 000 NOK2371 5312601 689
    250 000 - 499 999168486186537
    500 000 - 999 999 NOK123188147217
    1 000 000 NOK or more233102241111
    1The statistics are based on data from tax statistics for personal taxpayers.
    Explanation of symbols

About the statistics

The statistics provide an overview of personal forest owners income, debt and wealth.

Forest property

Property with at least 25 decares of productive forest area. Property parcels belonging to the same owner within one municipality are treated as one property.Personal forest owner

Forest owner owning forest area as an individual owner. Forest areas owned jointly by several individuals are included for one of the owners; the reference owner.

Legal owners

Central government, the Educational Fund, common forest owned by the central government (Statsallmenning), common forest not owned by the central government (Bygdeallmenning), limited company, foundation, municipality etc.

Gross income

Total wages and salaries pesnsins, entrepreneurial income and proeprty income.

Personal wages and salaries

Comprise payments in cash and in kind, taxable sick pay and unemployment benefit.

Pensions

Cover all benefit paid by social security and private pension and life insurance benefit.

Entrepreneurial income

A result of activities of a self-employed person, and is estimated from profit and loss account and balance sheet. The entrepreneurial income is transferred to the tax return and is included in the calculation of ordinary income.

Entrepreneurial income from agriculture

This is positive entrepreneurial income from agriculture according to tax return. Including 2011, entrepreneurial social security benefits in agriculture,forestry and fishery are included. As from 2012 social security benefits from primary industry are include in total entreprenurial income. Deductions such as membership payments to industry organisations, the year's entrepreneurial deficit, interest on debt and a separate agricultural deduction are not deducted.

Entreprenurial income from forestry

This is positive entrepreneurial income from forestry according to tax return. In addition, entrepreneurial income from forestry also comprises sickness benefit for persons without entreprenurail income in agriculture and fisheries.

Other income

Consist mainly of interest income, dividends, realised capital gains, rent and other income from property.

Name: Forest owners' income
Topic: Agriculture, forestry, hunting and fishing

19 March 2025

Division for Housing, Property, Spatial and Agricultural Statistics

County.

The statistics are published annually. It usually takes about 70 weeks from the end of the year until the figures are published.

Not relevant

Collected and revised data are stored securely by Statistics Norway in compliance with applicable legislation on data processing.

Statistics Norway can grant access to the source data (de-identified or anonymised microdata) on which the statistics are based, for researchers and public authorities for the purposes of preparing statistical results and analyses. Access can be granted upon application and subject to conditions. Refer to the details about this at Access to data from Statistics Norway.

The purpose of the statistics is to provide an overview of personal forest owners income, dept and property. The statistics also provide information on age, sex, income and education of forest owners.

Statistics on forest owners income based on sample surveys were published in the 1990's and after The sample survey of forestry 2004.

The main users of the statistics are professional forestry organisations, The Ministry of Agriculture and Food and various research and educational institutions.

No external users have access to statistics before they are released at 8 a.m. on ssb.no after at least three months’ advance notice in the release calendar. This is one of the most important principles in Statistics Norway for ensuring the equal treatment of users.

Statistics on the farmers' income and property are provided yearly. These statistics comprise natural persons operating agricultural holdings.

Statistics Norway also presents income statistics for all self-employed persons .

The statistics are developed, produced and disseminated pursuant to Act no. 32 of 21 June 2019 relating to official statistics and Statistics Norway (the Statistics Act).

Not relevant

Including 2010, the statistics built on properties in the Farm Register of the Norwegian Agricultural Authority with personal owner and at least 25 decares of productive forest area. Information about the owners came from the Land Register/Cadastre owned by The Norwegian Mapping Authority.

As from 2011, the number of forest properties and productive forest area are based on new cartographic data analysis and data on owners and properties from the cadastre (Land Register) in combination with data from the Farm Register.

In the statistics on personal forest owners, the forest owners' productive forest areas in Norway are aggregated, independent of municipality borders. Statistics on incomes are based on the forest owners' municipality for tax purposes. Other individual statistics on personal forest owners are based on the municipality where the forest owners live.

Statistics on average incomes, debt, gross property and assessed taxes are published for personal forest owners with positive self-employment income from forestry. Married couples and registered partners / cohabitants who jointly operate the forest property, may share the taxable entrepreneurial income. Statistics are therefor also made on average incomes, debt, gross property and assessed taxes for forest owners and their spouses, registered partners and cohabitants.

The statistics are derived from existing administrative data files.

The Farm Register of the Norwegian Agricultural Authority served until 2010 as the backbone of the statistics and information about the owners came from the Land register. As from 2011, the number of forest properties and productive forest area are based on new cartographic data analysis and data on owners and properties from the Cadastre in combination with data from the Farm Register.

More information about the personal forest owners comes from the Central Population Register, the Register on Personal Tax Returns and the Register on Tax Assessment for Personal Taxpayers.

The statistics are derived from the whole population of personal forest owners.

The statistics are based on existing administrative registers and are based on linked data files that were edited separately when established. Editing is defined here as checking, examining and amending data., and there are not any editing on the linked data.

Not relevant

Employees of Statistics Norway have a duty of confidentiality.

Statistics Norway does not publish figures if there is a risk of the respondent’s contribution being identified. This means that, as a general rule, figures are not published if fewer than three units form the basis of a cell in a table or if the contribution of one or two respondents constitutes a very large part of the cell total.

Statistics Norway can make exceptions to the general rule if deemed necessary to meet the requirements of the EEA agreement, if the respondent is a public authority, if the respondent has consented to this, or when the information disclosed is openly accessible to the public.

More information can be found on Statistics Norway’s website under Methods in official statistics, in the ‘Confidentiality’ section.

To ensure confidentiality, the suppression method is used in these statistics.

In the period 2007-2010, the Farm register has been updated and improved. The improvement has resulted in 3 000-4 000 more forest properties.

As from 2011, the number of forest properties and productive forest area are based on new cartographic data analysis and data on owners and properties from the cadastre (Land Register) in combination with data from the Farm Register. This resultet in more than 10 000 new forest properties. Most of them have had minor forestry activity.

Statistics on the forest owners' income based on sample surveys were published in the 1990's and in the Sample survey of forestry 2004. As from 2005, statistics on the forest owners' income based on registers have been published annaully.

The most important source of error is that taxpayers may fill in incorrect information on income, deductions, property or debt in the personal tax return or place amounts under wrong items. In most cases this will be detected and corrected by the local tax offices. Nevertheless, errors that do not influence the assessment of taxes may be ignored. Furthermore, errors may also originate during the scanning of the tax return forms, despite of the fact that controls are executed.

Another concern is the quality of the registers. The productive forest area of properties or the property borders are sometimes missing or erroneous. Furthermore, errors may arise when data are entered into the various administrative registers.

With regard to co-operative ownership, the statistics on forest owners comprise only the reference owner. Self-employment income from forestry for the remaining personal owners in the co-operative is not included. Analysis from 2011 show that entrepreneurial income from forests for these owners were approximately 0,4 per cent of the total entrepreneural income from forestry. In total, 3-4 per cent of the self-employment income from forestry is missing.

In reality, the number of personal forest owners with entrepreneurial income from forestry is higher than in these statistics show, because only the reference owner in a co-ownership is included here. Some personal forest owners are deceased and no new owner has been registered, some live abroad or information is missing for other reasons. These owners amount to 3-4 per cent of the personal forest owners and are excluded from the statistics on incomes.

Not relevant

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