In Northern Finland, the percentage of protected forest areas has increased; in Southern Finland, they have remained at their previous level (5%). Compared to the previous assessment in 2016, the volume of protected areas in hectares has increased by approximately 145,000 ha, including 60,000 in Southern Finland. (Percentages are rounded to whole numbers, which do not always reflect the relevant changes.)

On the other hand, protected forest areas in Northern Finland have increased from 19 to 20%, and across all of Finland from 12 to 13%; in terms of hectares, this equates to 2.88 million ha, which is almost the size of Belgium or Albania.