We apologize for possible errors in the machine translation of the site
Extent of vegetation/ecosystem types
The assessment of the extent of vegetation types was made based on a vegetation map created by the project experts Alla Aleksanyan (Institute of Botany after A. Takhtajyan NAS RA) and Vardan Asatryan (Scientific center of zoology and hydroecology of NAS RA). The map was created based on Barseghyan A. Armenian flora. In: Armenian National Atlas, A series. 2007; and other materials.
Vegetation map
Vegetation map excluding crop sand built-up areas from ESRI 2023
For detailed map see sections Ecosystem Extent/Vegetation/Vegetation map 2025
The current area of vegetation types is defined as the potential area of a given type minus the area of crops and built-up areas based on ESRI land cover data 2017 and 2023.
| Vegetation types | Area in 2023, km2 | Area in 2017, km2 | Changes 2023-2017, km2 | Changes, % relative to 2017 |
| Alpine meadows and carpets | 1660.84 | 1662 | -1.16 | -0.07 |
| Subalpine meadows | 4552.95 | 4601.92 | -48.97 | -1.06 |
| Meadow-steppe | 2658.2 | 2906.94 | -248.74 | -8.56 |
| Steppe | 5352.42 | 5571.67 | -219.25 | -3.94 |
| Juniper | 135.2 | 135.38 | -0.18 | -0.13 |
| Forest | 5345.91 | 5394.29 | -48.38 | -0.90 |
| Broadleaf woodland | 993.16 | 985.22 | 7.94 | 0.81 |
| Semidesert | 2560.1 | 2575.06 | -14.96 | -0.58 |
| Desert | 6.89 | 7.11 | -0.22 | -3.09 |
| Marsh | 282.79 | 291 | -8.21 | -2.82 |
Rarity of vegetation/ecosystem types
Currently, the rarest vegetation types (occupying less than 1% of Armenia’s area) are desert, juniper woodlands, and marshes, while the most widespread (occupying more than 15% of Armenia’s area) are subalpine meadows, forests, and steppe.
The map of the rarity of vegetation types
The area of different landcover classes and the degree of anthropogenic transformation
Due to human activity, compared to their potential distribution area, semi-deserts have been the most significantly reduced, occupying only 57% of their potential range. In contrast, alpine and subalpine vegetation, as well as juniper woodlands occupy almost their entire potential range.
The share of different landcover classes in vegetation zones
Area of vegetation types by provinces
Changes in area of vegetation types from 2017 to 2023, % relative to 2017
| Area in 2017, km2 | Types | Araga-tsotn | Ararat | Armavir | Geghar-kunik | Kotayk | Lori | Shirak | Syunik | Tavush | Vayotz Dzor |
| Alpine mea-dows and carpets | 202.91 | 37.22 | 0 | 391.14 | 113.09 | 44.06 | 126.15 | 531.77 | 0.31 | 212.53 | |
| Sub-alpine mea-dows | 107.04 | 64.63 | 0 | 1318.69 | 207.76 | 918.78 | 420.54 | 878.41 | 275.63 | 390.67 | |
| Mea-dow-steppe | 586.56 | 30.74 | 0 | 425.1 | 234.72 | 703.85 | 503.67 | 320.9 | 0 | 78.76 | |
| Steppe | 519.54 | 751.04 | 0 | 884.92 | 458.07 | 410.25 | 903.53 | 830.27 | 11.81 | 774.26 | |
| Forest | 49.49 | 187.2 | 0 | 343.67 | 377.1 | 1235.36 | 0 | 1354.65 | 1542.98 | 282.16 | |
| Juniper | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13.67 | 0 | 101.06 | |
| Broad-leaf wood-land | 0 | 9.46 | 0 | 8.8 | 1.68 | 73.27 | 0 | 163.98 | 696.06 | 4.74 | |
| Semi-desert | 756.42 | 453.14 | 456.89 | 0 | 288.68 | 0 | 17.25 | 116.41 | 0 | 370.26 | |
| Desert | 0 | 7.11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Marsh | 7.87 | 61.66 | 7.62 | 94.09 | 8.55 | 31.68 | 61.9 | 13.07 | 0 | 1.48 | |
| Area in 2023, km2 | Araga-tsotn | Ararat | Armavir | Geghar-kunik | Kotayk | Lori | Shirak | Syunik | Tavush | Vayotz Dzor | |
| Alpine mea-dows and carpets | 202.59 | 37.16 | 0 | 391.05 | 113.68 | 44.06 | 126.14 | 530.55 | 0.31 | 212.47 | |
| Sub-alpine mea-dows | 106.04 | 64.63 | 0 | 1307.91 | 208.24 | 904.53 | 397.7 | 878.07 | 275.54 | 390.5 | |
| Mea-dow-steppe | 524.94 | 30.77 | 0 | 405.23 | 234.95 | 656.93 | 408.82 | 295.18 | 0 | 78.74 | |
| Steppe | 525.73 | 751.66 | 0 | 824.14 | 451.72 | 362.86 | 819.41 | 803.66 | 11.81 | 773.48 | |
| Forest | 48.88 | 187.13 | 0 | 334.03 | 370.1 | 1224.23 | 0 | 1337.58 | 1541.85 | 280.41 | |
| Juniper | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20.62 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13.74 | 0 | 100.79 | |
| Broad-leaf wood-land | 0 | 9.46 | 0 | 10.63 | 1.68 | 73.41 | 0 | 164.17 | 701.92 | 4.65 | |
| Semi-desert | 743.31 | 470.97 | 456.02 | 0 | 279.08 | 0 | 17.15 | 115.78 | 0 | 369.73 | |
| Desert | 0 | 6.89 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Marsh | 7.05 | 64.27 | 7.73 | 92.94 | 8.18 | 31.88 | 53.23 | 12.95 | 0 | 1.47 | |
| Changes 2023-2017, km2 | Araga-tsotn | Ararat | Armavir | Geghar-kunik | Kotayk | Lori | Shirak | Syunik | Tavush | Vayotz Dzor | |
| Alpine mea-dows and carpets | -0.32 | -0.06 | 0 | -0.09 | 0.59 | 0 | -0.01 | -1.22 | 0 | -0.06 | |
| Sub-alpine mea-dows | -1 | 0 | 0 | -10.78 | 0.48 | -14.25 | -22.84 | -0.34 | -0.09 | -0.17 | |
| Mea-dow-steppe | -61.62 | 0.03 | 0 | -19.87 | 0.23 | -46.92 | -94.85 | -25.72 | 0 | -0.02 | |
| Steppe | 6.19 | 0.62 | 0 | -60.78 | -6.35 | -47.39 | -84.12 | -26.61 | 0 | -0.78 | |
| Forest | -0.61 | -0.07 | 0 | -9.64 | -7 | -11.13 | 0 | -17.07 | -1.13 | -1.75 | |
| Juniper | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.07 | 0 | -0.27 | |
| Broad-leaf wood-land | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.83 | 0 | 0.14 | 0 | 0.19 | 5.86 | -0.09 | |
| Semi-desert | -13.11 | 17.83 | -0.87 | 0 | -9.6 | 0 | -0.1 | -0.63 | 0 | -0.53 | |
| Desert | 0 | -0.22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Marsh | -0.82 | 2.61 | 0.11 | -1.15 | -0.37 | 0.2 | -8.67 | -0.12 | 0 | -0.01 | |
| Changes 2023-2017, % relative to 2017 | Araga-tsotn | Ararat | Armavir | Geghar-kunik | Kotayk | Lori | Shirak | Syunik | Tavush | Vayotz Dzor | |
| Alpine mea-dows and carpets | -0.16 | -0.16 | 0.00 | -0.02 | 0.52 | 0.00 | -0.01 | -0.23 | 0.00 | -0.03 | |
| Sub-alpine mea-dows | -0.93 | 0.00 | 0.00 | -0.82 | 0.23 | -1.55 | -5.43 | -0.04 | -0.03 | -0.04 | |
| Mea-dow-steppe | -10.51 | 0.10 | 0.00 | -4.67 | 0.10 | -6.67 | -18.83 | -8.01 | 0.00 | -0.03 | |
| Steppe | 1.19 | 0.08 | 0.00 | -6.87 | -1.39 | -11.55 | -9.31 | -3.20 | 0.00 | -0.10 | |
| Forest | -1.23 | -0.04 | 0.00 | -2.81 | -1.86 | -0.90 | 0.00 | -1.26 | -0.07 | -0.62 | |
| Juniper | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.10 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.51 | 0.00 | -0.27 | |
| Broad-leaf woodl-and | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 20.80 | 0.00 | 0.19 | 0.00 | 0.12 | 0.84 | -1.90 | |
| Semi-desert | -1.73 | 3.93 | -0.19 | 0.00 | -3.33 | 0.00 | -0.58 | -0.54 | 0.00 | -0.14 | |
| Desert | 0.00 | -3.09 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | |
| Marsh | -10.42 | 4.23 | 1.44 | -1.22 | -4.33 | 0.63 | -14.01 | -0.92 | 0.00 | -0.68 |
