Distributed in the coastal wetlands of tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world, mangrove forests provide important ecological and eco-economical services such as coastal erosion prevention, water purification, nursery habitats for marine fish and shrimp breeding, provision of building materials and medicinal ingredients, and tourist attraction. A dataset of mangrove forests changes from 1987 to 2017 in Hainan Island was developed using Landsat TM/OLI images obtained in 1987, 1993, 1998, 2003, 2007, 2013 and 2017. This dataset was compiled through a support vector machine (SVM) classification method based on ground survey data. It can be used to understand the status and dynamics of mangrove forests, and to support decision-making concerning the restoration, protection and management of mangrove wetland ecosystem. Further, the dataset provides basic data for ecological environment monitoring in Hainan Province.