The Living Planet Index, created by the Zoological Society of London, covers 35,803 population trends of 5,790 vertebrate species from 1970 to 2022 in its 2026 edition. The WWF published the accompanying report on 8 October 2026. The 73 percent figure does not describe the proportion of lost animals but the average proportional change in population sizes at monitored sites worldwide from 1970 to 2022.
What the figure does not say
About half of the populations in the index are stable or increasing, while the other half is declining. Because the declines exceed the gains in magnitude, the global index shows an average decline of 73 percent. Our World in Data notes that invertebrates and plants are not included in the count. Claims that 73 percent of wildlife has been lost, that 73 percent of species have gone extinct or are declining, represent misinterpretations of the index. The largest average declines occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean at 95 percent and Africa at 80 percent, while North America showed 28 percent decline and Europe and Central Asia 23 percent. The WWF attributes the less negative trend in Europe and North America to the fact that large-scale impacts on nature were already evident before 1970.
Tigers, turtles and tuna show recovery is possible
Wild tiger numbers increased by over 70 percent between 2010 and 2025, from 3,200 to approximately 5,700 animals. The WWF credits national tiger recovery programs, interstate commitments through the Global Tiger Initiative, professionalized ranger units, expanded protected areas, cross-border efforts against illegal trade and demand-reduction campaigns.
The green sea turtle was downlisted from endangered to not endangered on the IUCN Red List in 2025, becoming the first sea turtle to achieve this status. The WWF traces the recovery to 50 years of coordinated work in approximately 80 nesting countries, including protection of nesting females and eggs, beach management, lighting regulations, turtle excluder devices and other measures against fishing gear bycatch.
Bluefin tuna recovery involved substantial effort. Atlantic bluefin populations had fallen 80 percent compared to mid-20th century levels by 2010 and were listed as endangered. Pacific bluefin collapsed to 2 percent of unfished stock levels and was listed as vulnerable. Following campaigns for sustainably caught fish, lower catch quotas and increased monitoring, neither species was listed as overfished or of concern at the report's publication date.
African savanna elephants continue to decline across much of their range and remain critically endangered overall, but some populations are growing in parts of southern Africa. States in southern Africa have created legal frameworks that directly engage local communities in natural resource management through community-based management, complemented by efforts against illegal trade, legal reforms and reduced corruption.
Other recovery successes
European bison, extinct in the wild, have been returned to 10 countries within just over 50 years through captive breeding and reintroduction. In the United Kingdom, otters, driven nearly to extinction, have become relatively common nationwide. Species entirely absent, such as beavers and sea eagles, have been successfully reintroduced.
The gap between harm and protection remains substantial. In 2023, approximately 7.3 trillion U.S. dollars flowed into activities that harm nature, while 220 billion dollars were invested in nature protection or restoration. This represents a ratio of more than 30-to-1 against nature.
Debate over index calculations
A 2024 study published in Nature Communications by researchers from Charles University concluded that several mathematical problems in the LPI calculation create an imbalance between recognized increasing and decreasing trends, thereby overstating population declines. The authors emphasize their findings do not mean vertebrate populations are not changing substantially. They see a need for better measures to produce a balanced picture of biodiversity change. ZSL and the WWF acknowledge the methodological debate but emphasize the index is a relative trend indicator, not a census. The signal of ongoing long-term decline is consistent with independent measures such as the IUCN Red List Index.
Urgent implementation required
The WWF warns that the recovery successes described remain fragile and that nature protection alone is insufficient. The challenge is no longer finding solutions but implementing them at the necessary speed and scale. Global recovery depends on ending the activities that drive nature destruction. The most commonly reported driver of biodiversity loss is habitat loss and degradation, driven by agricultural expansion for food production.
The WWF assesses government progress to date as substantially inadequate and calls on negotiators to expand renewable energy, end environmentally damaging subsidies and halt deforestation.