The Living Planet Index (LPI) is a measure of how monitored populations of wild vertebrates change over time. It is not a count of every animal on Earth, a tally of extinct species, or a score for the condition of every ecosystem.
The latest assessment, published in WWF’s 2026 Living Planet Report, finds a 73% average decline in the size of monitored wildlife populations between 1970 and 2022. Understanding exactly what that percentage averages—and what it leaves out—is essential before drawing conclusions from it.
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What is the Living Planet Index?
The LPI combines many population time series into an aggregate trend. A time series follows one monitored population through multiple years, recording changes in its size, density, abundance, or a proxy for abundance. Nest counts, for example, can stand in for the size of a breeding bird population when a direct census is not available.
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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteThe Zoological Society of London (ZSL) produces the index using a method developed with WWF. ZSL describes it this way: “It is not a census of all wildlife, but reports the cumulative average percentage change in the size of these populations monitored throughout the world.” The wording matters: the subject being averaged is the change in monitored populations, not the number of animals in existence.
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What one record represents
One record might follow a fish stock sampled in a river, a bird colony counted at nesting sites, or a mammal population surveyed in a reserve. The records differ in species, location, years covered and measurement method. The index brings those separate trajectories together so readers can see an overall direction across the monitored dataset.
Where the data come from
The Living Planet Database is assembled from journals, online databases and government reports. The records were not all collected specifically for a Living Planet Report. Their time spans and completeness vary, and the database identifies the monitored location and, when available, threats recorded for that population.
What the 2026 Living Planet Report actually found
The 2026 report, published October 7, 2026, extends the assessment through 2022. Its headline result is an average 73% decline from 1970 to 2022 across 35,803 population trends representing 5,790 vertebrate species.
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| Scope in the 2026 report | Average change, 1970–2022 | What the figure describes |
|---|---|---|
| All monitored vertebrate populations in the global LPI | 73% decline | The average change in the sizes of the included population series |
| Freshwater populations | 85% decline | The index trend for monitored freshwater populations |
| Terrestrial populations | 69% decline | The index trend for monitored land-based populations |
| Marine populations | 59% decline | The index trend for monitored marine populations |
These ecosystem figures use the same report edition and 1970–2022 window. They should not be compared with a number from another edition without checking whether the endpoint year, included series or method changed. The 2026 report says its 73% result is consistent with the 2024 result even though additional population data were added and the time series were extended through 2022.
Why a negative global index can coexist with gains
About half of the included populations are stable or increasing. The global index is still negative because declines in the other populations are larger in aggregate. A population that falls sharply can outweigh several populations that rise modestly, so a downward index does not imply that every monitored population is shrinking.
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Does a 73% decline mean 73% of wildlife disappeared?
No. The percentage is not the fraction of individual animals that died, and it is not the percentage of vertebrate species that vanished. It is an average change in the sizes of selected, monitored populations relative to their 1970 values.
Three different quantities
- Population trend: how the measured size of a particular population changes through time.
- Species extinction: whether a species has disappeared everywhere. The LPI does not count extinctions directly.
- Total abundance: the number of individual animals across all populations, including populations that have never been monitored. The LPI is not a global headcount.
A simple illustration
If a monitored colony falls from an index value of 100 to 40, that series has declined by 60%. Another monitored population could rise from 100 to 150, while a third remains near 100. Combining many such series produces an aggregate trend; it does not add the animals in each location or estimate how many animals exist worldwide. The illustration explains the distinction, not the exact calculation used for the LPI.
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The database contains series for population size, density, abundance and proxies such as recorded nests. ZSL and WWF can disaggregate the global dataset by taxonomic group, country or region, ecosystem and thematic questions. That makes the LPI useful for asking where monitored declines are concentrated, while preserving the need to inspect the underlying coverage.
Threat information is not the same as causal proof
Some database records include local threats. Those entries can help frame follow-up work, but the index alone does not establish why every population changed. Habitat conversion, harvest, pollution, invasive species, disease, climate pressures or other factors require separate evidence at the relevant location and time. An index trend is a signal to investigate, not a complete causal diagnosis.
How representative is the dataset?
The LPI is extensive, but it is not an evenly sampled map of biodiversity. Its records are concentrated in vertebrates, and representation differs among groups, places and decades.
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Taxonomic coverage
The index website reports that the global database represents between 2% and 18% of known species within the vertebrate taxonomic groups covered. That range refers to representation inside those vertebrate groups; it is not a share of all animal life. Mammals and birds are better represented than amphibians and reptiles, which have fewer usable long-term series in the database.
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Monitoring and publication are denser in North America and Europe. Remote tropical regions have larger gaps. A result can therefore reflect both genuine ecological change and where researchers have been able to collect and publish repeated measurements. It should not be read as if every country, habitat and species had an equal chance of entering the index.
Unequal time series
Some populations have long records; others have shorter or incomplete series. The index website specifically notes differences in the length and availability of time series among taxa. Shorter records can still be informative, but they provide a different evidentiary base from a population measured consistently for decades.
How to read an LPI number without overclaiming
- Identify the edition and endpoint year. The current headline is from the 2026 report and ends in 2022; “1970–2022” is part of the result.
- Check the scope. Determine whether the number is global, freshwater, terrestrial, marine, regional or taxonomic.
- Ask what is being counted. Look for population trends and the number of species and series, not a claim about all individuals.
- Inspect coverage. Consider which groups, countries and habitats are represented and how long the underlying series run.
- Separate description from explanation. Use the index to describe a trend; use field studies and other evidence to explain causes or evaluate interventions.
- Compare like with like. When placing two results side by side, match the report edition, time window, scope and included data. A different endpoint or dataset can change the headline.
What the LPI can tell you—and what it cannot
| The index can help answer | The index cannot answer by itself |
|---|---|
| How the average size of monitored vertebrate populations changed over a stated period | How many wild animals exist globally |
| Whether monitored trends are, on average, increasing or decreasing | Whether 73% of animals or species disappeared |
| How monitored freshwater, terrestrial and marine trends differ in the same report window | Whether every population or ecosystem is declining |
| Which regions, taxa or themes warrant closer investigation when data are available | The complete condition of biodiversity or the precise cause of every trend |
Why the global average hides local variation
An aggregate index compresses thousands of trajectories into one direction. Two regions can have very different mixtures of steep declines, modest declines, stability and growth while contributing to the same global result. The freshwater, terrestrial and marine figures already show this: the monitored freshwater trend is more negative than the terrestrial and marine trends in the 2026 report.
Within any one category, the spread can be just as important as the average. A national or species-level assessment should therefore use the most specific disaggregation available rather than substituting the global number for local monitoring.
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Using the LPI alongside other biodiversity evidence
The LPI is best treated as one indicator in a wider evidence set. A serious assessment can pair it with:
- Local abundance surveys that fill gaps for species or habitats absent from the database.
- Species-distribution and occupancy records, which show where a species occurs rather than only how one monitored population changes.
- Extinction-risk assessments, which address the probability of a species disappearing rather than the average trend in monitored populations.
- Habitat, water-quality and other ecosystem measurements that test environmental conditions directly.
- Documented threat and management data needed to evaluate causes and conservation responses.
Using several indicators prevents a strong result in one dimension—such as a population decline—from being mistaken for a complete measurement of biodiversity.
Common interpretation mistakes and their corrections
“The planet lost 73% of its animals.”
Correction: The 73% is an average decline in monitored population sizes over 1970–2022. It is not a count of animals lost.
“Nearly three-quarters of vertebrate species went extinct.”
Correction: The LPI includes trends from 5,790 vertebrate species; it does not say that this share of species disappeared.
“Every population in the database declined.”
Correction: Approximately half of included populations were stable or increasing. The negative aggregate reflects the larger magnitude of declines among the rest.
“The index is a complete biodiversity score.”
Correction: It is based on monitored vertebrate populations with uneven taxonomic, geographic and time coverage. It should be combined with other measures.
“The index proves a specific threat caused a specific decline.”
Correction: Threat fields may be available for some records, but causal claims require additional, location-specific evidence.
What to look for in the technical documentation
ZSL directs readers to a 2026 technical supplement for methodological details and sensitivity tests. Those materials are the appropriate place to examine how the current assessment was constructed and how results respond to analytical choices. The headline pages alone do not settle every debate about aggregation or representativeness; a claim about the validity of a particular mathematical method should engage the supplement and relevant peer-reviewed critiques rather than treating the headline percentage as self-explanatory.
Bottom line
The Living Planet Index answers a focused question: how has the average size of monitored wild-vertebrate populations changed over time? In the 2026 assessment, the answer for 1970–2022 is a 73% decline across 35,803 trends from 5,790 species, with different averages for freshwater, terrestrial and marine populations. It does not answer how many individual animals remain, how many species are extinct, or why every trend changed. Read it as a broad warning signal grounded in real population records, then use the underlying coverage and complementary evidence to understand the places and species behind the average.
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