...currently in Latvia, forest stands (on both forest land and abandoned agricultural land) cover 3239.7 thousand ha, which is 50.2% of Latvia's land area. As a criterion for recognising areas covered with trees as forest stands, the NFI uses a threshold – at least 1000 trees per ha. Therefore, clear-felled areas and dead stands are not included in forest stands, nor are abandoned agricultural lands where shrubs or sparse trees are growing. The area of forest stands has increased by 66.6 thousand ha or 2.1% since the first NFI cycle (2004–2008), primarily increasing due to the overgrowth of abandoned agricultural land. Increasingly, landowners are creating forest stands on such land in a targeted manner by planting high-quality seedlings.

According to the understanding adopted in Latvia, forest area also includes, in addition to forest stands, clear-felled areas, marshes, glades, and beaver ponds, as well as forest infrastructure objects. In total, forest in Latvia covers 55.7% of the land area.

In recent years, the area of forest stands has been influenced by more active economic activity in private forests, as well as the creation and maintenance of various infrastructure objects (roads, railways and their routes, boundary lines, power lines, gas pipelines, etc.). The area of forest stands is affected by dead stands that perish without direct human involvement – as a result of windthrow, fire, diseases, pests, water, or other natural disturbances. In 2020, dead stands were identified in the Lubāna area, which had perished due to excessive moisture in 2017.