There are a lot of trees to hug on planet Earth, if you are so inclined. In fact new research has estimated there are 3 trillion all up, significantly more than previously thought.

But despite the seemingly high numbers, researchers behind the new estimate have also found that humans are removing 15 billion trees a year from the planet.

Forest being cleared on Padang Island, Indonesia in 2014. Credit:Ulet Ifansasti/Greenpeace

And overall the study – which was published in the journal Nature on Thursday – also concludes that since the start of human civilisation the total number of trees on Earth has crashed by 46 per cent.

Scientists who collaborated on the new global tree estimate spanned 15 countries, and were led by researchers at Yale University in the US.