Monitored wildlife populations worldwide have declined by an average of 73 per cent over the past five decades, but India has recorded gains in the numbers of several major species, according to a new report by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
The Living Planet Report 2026, released on October 8, 2026, found a 73 per cent decline in the average size of monitored wildlife populations between 1970 and 2022.
The report, produced with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), analysed population trends across 5,790 vertebrate species. It identified habitat loss and degradation as the most frequently reported threats to wildlife populations, followed by overexploitation, climate change, pollution, invasive species and disease.
The report said these pressures were driven by wider problems in global food, energy and financial systems.
However, it also highlighted successful conservation efforts in several countries, including India, where populations of tigers, greater one-horned rhinoceroses, Asiatic lions and other species have increased.
The report found that freshwater wildlife populations had experienced the steepest average decline, at 85 per cent, followed by terrestrial populations at 69 per cent and marine populations at 59 per cent.
“The Living Planet Report 2026 is both a stark reminder of the scale of the biodiversity crisis and a message of hope,” said Ravi Singh, secretary-general and chief executive of WWF-India.
The report noted that while biodiversity indicators showed a significant global decline, some species had recovered, demonstrating the potential effectiveness of conservation measures. India was cited as one such example.
The report highlighted population increases among several of India's major wildlife species. According to the 2022 All India Tiger Estimation, the country's tiger population was estimated at 3,682.
Other species showing positive trends included the greater one-horned rhinoceros, with a population exceeding 3,300, and the common leopard, with an estimated 13,874 individuals.
The Asiatic lion population increased to 891 in 2025 from 674 in 2020, while India's first nationwide assessment of snow leopards estimated their population at 718.
The report also highlighted India's efforts to conserve aquatic biodiversity. The country's first range-wide river dolphin population assessment, conducted between 2021 and 2023, covered 8,507 kilometres across 28 rivers. It produced the first science-based estimate of 6,324 Ganges river dolphins across the surveyed range.
India's wildlife data also contributed to the broader Asia-Pacific assessment. The report found that monitored vertebrate populations in Asia and the Pacific had declined by an average of 49 per cent between 1970 and 2022.
The regional index was based on 4,664 monitored populations belonging to 787 species. Compared with the 2024 report, the latest assessment included 1 per cent more monitored populations and 2 per cent more species.
Several wildlife experts welcomed the report's recognition of India's conservation achievements, while cautioning that important challenges remained.
“India is doing exemplarily well in conservation of all five big cats and, no doubt, a global example in conserving wildlife,” SP Yadav, director-general of the International Big Cat Alliance, told this reporter.
Yadav said India was home to about 70 per cent of the world's wild tigers, with the country's tiger population increasing at an estimated annual rate of 6.1 per cent. He also pointed to the recovery of Asiatic lions in India, contrasting it with declining lion populations in Africa.
According to Yadav, India has the world's largest leopard population and the third-largest snow leopard population after China and Mongolia. He said cheetahs, reintroduced to India, were also gradually adapting to their new habitat.
Yadav attributed India's conservation achievements to several factors, including substantial government funding, scientific planning and the use of technology in wildlife management.
However, other experts said India's success in conserving animals within protected areas had not been matched by adequate measures for species living outside them.
"India is doing well in protected area-based species conservation, but we need to prepare and follow appropriate conservation strategies for animals largely remaining outside protected areas, like the Great Indian bustard, Indian wolf, foxes and likewise," said wildlife scientist and conservationist YS Jhala. He said such a strategy was currently lacking.
Qamar Qureshi, a wildlife conservation expert and professor at the Wildlife Institute of India, warned that increasing populations of big cats and other mammals had also contributed to growing human-wildlife conflict.
He said such conflicts disproportionately affected poorer communities, while poaching remained another conservation concern.
The report also cautioned that conservation measures alone would not be sufficient to reverse global biodiversity losses. “The declines registered by the LPI and other biodiversity indicators cannot be reversed by conservation efforts alone,” it said.
The findings broadly reflect concerns raised in WWF’s Living Planet Report 2024, which documented substantial declines in monitored wildlife populations across different regions. That report found the steepest average decline in Latin America and the Caribbean, at 95 per cent, followed by Africa at 76 per cent and the Asia-Pacific region at 60 per cent.
It identified habitat loss and degradation as major threats, particularly those associated with agricultural expansion, urban development and infrastructure projects that fragment wildlife habitats and corridors.
These pressures also affect wildlife in India and the wider Asia-Pacific region.
The 2024 report highlighted threats to several species and ecosystems, including the decline of Indian vultures and growing pressure on freshwater and wetland habitats.