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There are about three trillion trees on Earth, according to a new estimate 鈥� eight times higher than previous estimates.

The Yale University Study collected tree density information from 400,000 forest plots around the world - where workers had actually gone out and counted the number of trunks in a given area.

Previous estimates were heavily reliant on satellite pictures, which show forest extent but do not reveal how many individual trees stand below the canopy.

The team estimates we are removing about 15 billion a year, with perhaps only five billion being planted back.

鈥淲e currently lose a net of approximately 10bn trees each year - that's a gross of 15bn each year - with the rates highest in tropical regions,鈥� said the report鈥檚 lead author Thomas Crowther, who is now at Netherlands Institute of Ecology.

It is hoped the data will be used by people projecting the impact of climate change and the role of deforestation in changing ecosystems.