The White-backed Woodpecker breeds in old, damp deciduous forest with an abundance of dead and dying wood, preferably with aspen, birch and alder. The nest is excavated in a cavity in a rotten deciduous tree, often an aspen. The female normally lays 3–5 eggs, and both parents share the incubation, which lasts about two weeks. The young are fed by both parents and fledge after barely a month.