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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →The 73% decline reported by WWF is an average proportional change in monitored vertebrate populations—not evidence that 73% of animals or species have disappeared. The Living Planet Index tracks population trends for thousands of vertebrate species, but it is not a census of all wildlife. The available figures do not establish how many species or populations worldwide remain unmonitored.
What does the 73% decline measure?
WWF’s Living Planet Report 2026 reports an average decline of 73% in monitored vertebrate wildlife populations between 1970 and 2022. The Living Planet Index combines proportional changes in animal population sizes recorded at sites around the world. It does not add up individual animals that died, count populations that vanished, or calculate the share of species that went extinct.
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The index’s 2026 dataset contains 35,803 population trends from 5,790 vertebrate species. It includes populations that grew, shrank or remained stable over the period. Those counts describe the index’s coverage, not the full diversity or abundance of wildlife on Earth.
Why can the average fall if many populations are stable or growing?
About half of the populations in the index were stable or increasing: 43% increased and 7% were stable. The overall average is still sharply negative because the declines outweigh the increases in magnitude. A positive trend in one monitored population does not cancel an equally sized percentage change in another as though both represented the same number of animals.
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That is why the headline does not describe every species, location or population. Local recoveries can occur alongside severe declines elsewhere, and a global average can conceal both.
How do declines differ by region and ecosystem?
The report gives these average declines in monitored populations from 1970 to 2022:
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| Grouping | Average decline |
|---|---|
| Latin America and the Caribbean | 95% |
| Africa | 80% |
| Asia–Pacific | 49% |
| Freshwater ecosystems | 85% |
| Terrestrial ecosystems | 69% |
| Marine ecosystems | 59% |
These are index averages for monitored populations, not percentages of species or individual animals lost. Regional results should not be treated as perfectly like-for-like: the monitored species differ, and the meaning of a 1970 baseline varies by region, especially where large-scale impacts were already under way before that date.
Does a similar figure in successive reports mean the decline has stopped?
No. WWF cautions that Living Planet Index editions are not directly comparable: each uses a different set of species and extends the time series. A repeated headline percentage does not show that the trend has stabilized or that the latest two years were flat.
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Dr Rebecca Shaw, WWF Chief Scientist and editor-in-chief of the 2026 report, describes the 73% figure as the decline “in the last fifty-two years.” The report’s precise data period is 1970–2022. The statistic summarizes that full period; it is not a measure of change in the most recent couple of years.
What is driving the declines?
WWF identifies habitat loss and degradation—often driven by agricultural expansion for food—as the most frequently reported driver of biodiversity loss. Other pressures it lists are overexploitation, climate change, pollution, invasive species and disease. The index documents population trends; these drivers help explain pressures on wildlife but do not mean every population is affected in the same way.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Are there reasons for hope?
Yes, but recovery examples are not proof that the global trend has reversed. WWF highlights green sea turtles, which were downlisted from Endangered to Least Concern on the IUCN Red List in 2025. The report attributes the recovery to decades of coordinated work across nesting countries: protecting nesting females and eggs, managing beaches, regulating lighting, reducing bycatch with turtle-excluder devices and other measures, enforcing laws against illegal take, and engaging communities.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsDr Louise McRae of ZSL Institute of Zoology, who leads the research behind the index, said: “This year’s Living Planet Index shows the need for rapid action to address the continued decline in biodiversity.” She also noted evidence behind the global statistic of populations rebounding and habitats recovering through people working together. Those recoveries show that conservation can make a difference; they should not be generalized to every species or treated as evidence that the overall indicator is already improving.
What does “many animals still aren’t being counted” mean?
The index covers monitored vertebrate populations, not all animal life. The available sources do not give a global count or percentage of wildlife species or populations that remain unmonitored, so the size of that gap cannot be stated precisely here. The 5,790 species in the index are its documented coverage, not a measure of how representative that coverage is of all wildlife.
For readers, the key distinction is between a trend indicator and a census: the index shows how monitored populations changed over time, while leaving the total number and condition of unmonitored populations unresolved.
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