Eco Watch | Global wildlife numbers: Indian big cats beat odds

Monitored wildlife populations worldwide have shrunk by an average of 73 per cent since 1970, according to the Living Planet Report 2026, published by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The index draws on 35,803 population trends across 5,790 species of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish. The figure is an average change in population size, not a count of animals lost. Some populations have collapsed while others have grown, and the index averages the two. Freshwater life fared the worst, with an average fall of 85 per cent, the steepest drop in the index. The picture is not uniformly bleak. Half of the populations tracked are stable or increasing. But the declines outweigh the gains, which is why the average still reads a fall of 73 per cent.