According to Eurostat, forests cover around 40% of the EU27 land area and half the EU27 consumption of renewable energy comes from wood. In the European Union, three quarters of forest area was available for wood supply in 2010. Furthermore, renewable sources of energy provided 9% of total gross inland energy consumption in the EU in 2009.

The International Year of Forests offers an opportunity to raise public awareness of the significant environmental and economic contributions of forests to making the planet alive, to highlight challenges the world's forests are facing and what is being done to manage forests sustainably. The information provided comes from the publication Forestry in the EU and the world, issued by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union in connection with the International Year of Forests 2011.

According to the statistics, the highest proportion of land covered by forests in the EU are in Finland, Sweden and Slovenia. Six Member States had more than half of their land area covered by forest and other wooded land in 2010, Finland, Sweden, Slovenia, Latvia, Spain and Estonia. In addition, forest available for wood supply is managed sustainably in the Member States. The growing stock within forests available for wood supply indicates the available wood resources. In 2010, the total growing stock in the EU27 amounted to 21,750 mn m3. Germany had the largest growing stock, followed by Sweden and France.

On the other hand, in the majority of Member States, wood and wood waste was the main renewable energy resource. Wood and wood waste accounted for more than three quarters of gross inland energy consumption from renewables in 2009 in Estonia, Lithuania and Poland. The lowest shares in 2009 were recorded in Cyprus, Italy, the United Kingdom and Luxembourg. Moreover, the most significant wood-based manufacturing was in Latvia, Estonia and Finland.