World wildlife populations have fallen an average of 73% since 1970, new index shows

The WWF’s newly released 2026 Living Planet Index indicates that, on average, wildlife populations have shrunk by 73% since 1970. This indicator, used to gauge progress toward UN biodiversity goals, draws on a patchwork of sources including protected-area surveys, ad-hoc academic research and data on harvested species. Scientists warn that the index reflects only the populations for which data exist, leaving many species entirely uncounted and potentially skewing results.

The dataset is biased toward remote wilderness and threatened species, which may either understate or overstate overall declines. To mitigate these distortions, the index now gives greater weight to data from under-sampled regions such as Africa and South America. Nevertheless, the scarcity of long-term, comprehensive monitoring means substantial uncertainty remains, and researchers continue to develop methods to make global biodiversity indicators more representative.