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Estimates and standard error of the estimates

The results published in the NFI tables are estimates for variables in the Swiss forest (population parameters) whose true values are not known and must therefore be extrapolated (estimated) from the NFI sample data.

The extrapolations carry uncertainties. However, the accuracy of the extrapolations can be reliably estimated from the NFI sample, which is designed to be a random sample. To this end, all NFI tables include a second figure in addition to the estimate itself, namely the standard error of the estimate.

In most tables the percent standard error is reported (±%), but the absolute standard error (±) is also reported occasionally, especially for estimated percentages. The relationship between absolute and percent standard error is as follows:

percent standard error = absolute standard error / estimate × 100

absolute standard error = percent standard error × estimate / 100

Information on the forest road network is based on a full survey of all forest roads. In this case, there is no need to specify a standard error because there is no uncertainty caused by sampling.

Confidence interval of the estimate

With the estimate and the standard error of the estimate, the limits of the so-called confidence interval of the estimate can be calculated as:

lower limit = estimate – tQ × absolute standard error

upper limit = estimate + tQ × absolute standard error

If the simple standard error is used for the calculation (tQ = 1), then the 68% confidence interval is formed. In this case, the true value of the population parameter has a 68% probability of lying within this confidence interval of the estimate. If the double standard error is used (tQ = 2), then there is a 95% probability that the true value lies within this 95% confidence interval.

Significance of the estimate

The confidence interval can be used to statistically test whether the estimated population parameter is larger or smaller than a specific reference or target value, or whether two estimated population parameters truly differ (in the real population). For practical applications, proceed as follows: if a reference value lies outside the confidence interval, the estimated population value can be interpreted as being significantly different from it; if it lies within the confidence interval, the difference between the estimated population parameter and the reference value can be interpreted as random or not significant. When two population parameters are compared, they can be interpreted as differing significantly if their confidence intervals do not overlap.

Dealing with missing values

When calculating a results table, data are not always available for all combinations of characteristics^* of the classification variables and regional demarcation applied. In most cases, this indicates that the attribute estimated with the respective target variable does not occur or occurs only very rarely. Usually, the value 0 is used (imputed). However, as this value is not based on direct measurements, the associated standard error is represented with a full stop [.]. If the imputed value of 0 is referred to in the calculation, e.g. in the case of percentages or certain change estimates, no value can be entered. In this case, the estimated value and standard error are both represented with a full stop [.].

For example, no Arolla pines have been found and measured in the Swiss Plateau to date (growing stock of Arolla pines by production region). The values can be assumed to be missing because Arolla pine does not occur in the Swiss Plateau and therefore the growing stock there must be 0.

^* e.g. ‘Arolla pine’ characteristic of the classification variable ‘tree species’ and ‘Swiss plateau’ characteristic of the ‘regional demarcation’

Changes

There are two types of changes in the NFI:

The first type involves specific target variables relating to components of change, such as increment, fellings, mortality and losses. These target variables are only available for two consecutive inventory cycles, e.g. NFI3–NFI4. In the evaluation of components of change, the classification variable characteristic of the second inventory cycle is assigned to the first inventory cycle. These evaluations therefore do not take into account potential changes in a classification variable characteristic from the earlier to the later inventory (e.g. from private to public ownership).

With the second type of change, the difference in target variables, such as number of stems, growing stock or forest area, is used to assess the change between two inventory cycles. Target variables are generally used to represent states, such as that in NFI4, but can also indicate the net change between any two inventory cycles, e.g. NFI1–NFI4. In evaluations of change using these target variables, the change in a classification variable characteristic is considered in the analysis. Consequently, one can detect, for example, that the forest area without shrub forest increased between the two inventory cycles. This only has an effect on classification variables whose characteristic (class) can actually change, e.g. the affiliation with a forest area or the tree condition.

NFI5
volume of bolewood (HG 2010)
timber assortment classes (HG 2010) · conifers and broadleaves
regional demarcation: canton
unit: 1000 m³
evaluation area: accessible forest without shrub forest
grid: 1.4 km grid, subgrids 1-5
state 2018/26
		canton
		AG		AI		AR		BE		BL/BS		FR		GE		GL		GR		JU		LU		NE		NW		OW		SG		SH		SO		SZ		TG		TI		UR		VD		VS		ZG		ZH		Switzerland
timber assortment classes (HG 2010)	conifers and broadleaves	1000 m³	±%	1000 m³	±%	1000 m³	±%	1000 m³	±%	1000 m³	±%	1000 m³	±%	1000 m³	±%	1000 m³	±%	1000 m³	±%	1000 m³	±%	1000 m³	±%	1000 m³	±%	1000 m³	±%	1000 m³	±%	1000 m³	±%	1000 m³	±%	1000 m³	±%	1000 m³	±%	1000 m³	±%	1000 m³	±%	1000 m³	±%	1000 m³	±%	1000 m³	±%	1000 m³	±%	1000 m³	±%	1000 m³	±%
n/a	n/a	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.
	conifers	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.
	broadleaves	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.
	indeterminable	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.
	total	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.
smallwood	n/a	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.
	conifers	146	37	59	59	92	50	1365	12	74	57	582	23	6	85	23	25	485	8	876	16	209	21	1477	15	23	40	161	44	279	23	75	53	101	49	55	17	148	29	152	14	54	19	1742	13	544	16	8	41	185	25	8922	5
	broadleaves	25	14	1	52	3	35	67	8	13	19	18	17	3	56	9	25	31	14	18	17	21	17	9	20	6	37	6	31	35	14	9	22	25	14	12	21	12	20	107	8	6	29	46	11	20	16	2	46	21	13	525	3
	indeterminable	0	0	0	.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.	0	0	0	0	0	.	0	0	0	.	0	.	0	0	0	0	0	.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.	0	0	0	0
	total	171	32	61	58	95	49	1432	12	88	49	600	22	9	70	32	20	517	7	893	16	230	19	1486	15	29	33	167	42	314	20	84	48	126	40	67	15	160	27	259	9	60	18	1787	13	564	15	10	36	207	22	9448	4
classes 1 and 2	n/a	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.
	conifers	1468	18	803	30	952	28	12882	6	549	22	3073	15	41	100	978	23	16146	5	1024	21	4243	11	798	17	757	36	2095	19	3419	12	593	28	1145	18	2111	15	1595	21	4022	11	2140	18	4739	11	10473	7	487	32	2657	15	79191	2
	broadleaves	1863	13	59	57	452	30	6307	7	1277	18	1879	15	103	47	604	23	2694	13	1554	16	1610	13	889	15	596	38	636	28	3096	13	746	24	1912	15	1039	19	1120	17	9156	6	797	27	4058	10	2114	12	149	41	2392	11	47102	2
	indeterminable	0	0	0	.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.	0	0	0	0	0	.	0	0	0	.	0	.	0	0	0	0	0	.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.	0	0	0	0
	total	3331	12	862	30	1404	24	19189	5	1826	16	4952	12	143	52	1582	18	18841	5	2577	14	5853	10	1687	13	1353	28	2730	17	6515	10	1339	20	3056	13	3150	13	2716	15	13178	5	2938	17	8798	8	12587	7	637	28	5049	10	126293	1
classes 3 and 4	n/a	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.
	conifers	2005	18	1652	28	1867	26	21582	6	813	30	5195	13	44	78	1954	21	19846	5	3194	17	6398	12	4228	13	799	33	2197	20	6874	11	930	25	1650	18	3650	15	1645	18	5292	14	2343	19	9177	9	11668	7	669	37	4062	12	119733	2
	broadleaves	3176	14	203	48	446	32	8527	8	1681	20	2417	18	167	53	900	26	1573	17	2734	15	2508	18	962	20	483	38	734	31	4493	13	1266	21	2919	14	1360	23	1659	17	4296	8	556	34	5088	11	729	23	280	46	3153	12	52309	3
	indeterminable	0	0	0	.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.	0	0	0	0	0	.	0	0	0	.	0	.	0	0	0	0	0	.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.	0	0	0	0
	total	5181	12	1856	27	2313	25	30109	5	2493	18	7612	12	211	52	2855	19	21420	5	5928	13	8905	10	5190	12	1282	28	2931	18	11367	10	2195	19	4569	13	5009	14	3304	15	9588	8	2900	18	14265	8	12397	7	949	32	7215	10	172042	1
classes 5 and 6	n/a	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.
	conifers	806	26	428	40	375	33	8263	8	345	43	1677	19	0	0	1096	28	7422	8	994	27	2371	16	1476	21	282	42	784	30	3696	15	306	46	433	32	1445	22	665	30	2446	18	771	27	2886	14	3690	11	189	43	1242	18	44087	3
	broadleaves	1662	18	26	71	51	51	2711	14	498	31	555	23	65	100	190	38	417	28	597	27	744	27	84	49	33	100	216	44	1232	22	298	42	1085	27	410	41	1150	32	1355	19	218	46	1557	20	172	37	64	69	1562	19	16952	5
	indeterminable	0	0	0	.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.	0	0	0	0	0	.	0	0	0	.	0	.	0	0	0	0	0	.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.	0	0	0	0
	total	2468	15	453	38	425	31	10974	7	843	25	2232	16	65	100	1286	25	7839	8	1591	20	3115	14	1560	20	315	39	1000	26	4928	13	605	32	1518	24	1855	20	1816	24	3800	13	988	25	4443	12	3861	10	254	38	2804	14	61039	3
total	n/a	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.	0	.
	conifers	4425	16	2942	28	3285	25	44092	6	1781	27	10527	12	90	82	4051	21	43900	5	6087	16	13221	11	7980	12	1860	31	5237	19	14269	11	1904	23	3329	16	7261	15	4053	17	11912	12	5308	18	18543	8	26374	7	1354	34	8146	12	251934	2
	broadleaves	6726	13	289	47	952	30	17611	7	3469	17	4868	16	338	55	1704	23	4716	13	4902	14	4882	15	1944	15	1118	35	1591	26	8856	12	2319	20	5940	13	2821	20	3942	17	14914	6	1578	27	10749	10	3035	14	496	41	7129	11	116888	2
	indeterminable	0	0	0	.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.	0	0	0	0	0	.	0	0	0	.	0	.	0	0	0	0	0	.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.	0	0	0	0
	total	11151	11	3232	28	4237	23	61703	5	5249	16	15396	10	428	52	5755	18	48616	5	10989	12	18104	10	9923	11	2978	25	6829	17	23124	9	4223	18	9269	12	10082	13	7995	13	26826	6	6886	16	29293	7	29409	6	1849	30	15275	9	368822	1

Table citation

Abegg, M.; Ahles, P.; Allgaier Leuch, B.; Cioldi, F.; Didion, M.; Düggelin, C.; Fischer, C.; Herold, A.; Meile, R.; Rohner, B.; Rösler, E.; Speich, S.; Temperli, C.; Traub, B.,
2023: Swiss national forest inventory - Result table No. 1301516. Birmensdorf, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL

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