The taiga, also called the boreal forest, forms a massive belt across the Northern Hemisphere between roughly 50°N and 65°N latitude. It covers about 17 percent of Earth’s total land surface, making it one of the largest biomes on the planet. You’ll find it stretching across three continents: North America, Europe, and Asia.
The Circumpolar Belt
Picture a ring of dense, cold-hardy forest wrapping around the top of the globe. That’s the taiga. It sits just south of the treeless Arctic tundra and just north of temperate forests and grasslands. The boundary between tundra and taiga stretches more than 13,400 kilometers around the Northern Hemisphere, making it the largest vegetation transition on Earth.
The climate in this zone is defined by extremes. Winter temperatures can plunge to -40°C (-40°F), while summers hover around 10°C (50°F). Annual rainfall ranges from 300 to 900 millimeters (12 to 35 inches), much of which falls as snow. These conditions favor coniferous trees like spruce, pine, and larch, which dominate the landscape.
Russia and Northern Asia
Russia contains by far the largest stretch of taiga on Earth. The vast boreal forest extends across nearly the entire width of the country, from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific coast. This is the single biggest unbroken forest on the planet. The taiga also pushes southward into northeastern China and Mongolia, where colder continental climates at lower latitudes still support boreal forest conditions.
North America
In North America, the taiga occupies much of Canada and Alaska. Canada’s boreal forest runs from the Yukon and British Columbia in the west through the Northwest Territories, across Ontario and Quebec, and into the Atlantic provinces. It covers a huge portion of the country’s interior. Alaska’s interior, away from the coast, is also solidly within the taiga zone, with black spruce and white spruce forests stretching across the landscape.
Scandinavia and Northern Europe
Most of Finland, Sweden, and Norway are covered with taiga. These Scandinavian forests are some of the most accessible boreal regions in the world, and they support major forestry industries. A small, isolated pocket of boreal forest even exists in the Scottish Highlands, though it lacks some species found on the continent. It does contain Scotch pine, the most widespread conifer of the Eurasian taiga.
Why Only the Northern Hemisphere
You won’t find taiga anywhere in the Southern Hemisphere. The reason is simple geography: there isn’t enough landmass at the right latitudes. The taiga needs large continental areas between 50° and 65° latitude, where long, cold winters and short, cool summers create the conditions conifers thrive in. In the Southern Hemisphere, those latitudes are almost entirely ocean. South America narrows to a thin tip, and there’s nothing but water between it and Antarctica.
Taiga-Like Forests at High Elevations
Outside the main boreal belt, forests that closely resemble taiga appear at high elevations on major mountain ranges. The Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada in North America both have zones of dense coniferous forest with long, harsh winters and short summers, conditions that mirror what you’d find thousands of kilometers to the north. The Himalayas also host similar forests at elevation. These mountain zones are technically called subalpine forests rather than true taiga, but they share many of the same tree types, wildlife, and harsh growing conditions.
How Big the Taiga Really Is
To put the taiga’s scale in perspective, 17 percent of Earth’s land surface is roughly equivalent to the entire continent of Africa. It’s the single largest land biome, larger than tropical rainforests or deserts. Most of it remains sparsely populated by humans, with vast stretches of unbroken forest in Siberia and northern Canada that are among the most remote places on Earth. The taiga also plays an outsized role in the global climate, storing enormous amounts of carbon in its trees, soil, and the permafrost that underlies much of the region. The boundary between tundra and taiga is shifting as temperatures rise, with trees gradually pushing northward into areas that were previously too cold to support forest growth.