For the first time in a decade and a half, more than 3,000 tigers are living in the wild in India. According to a census released Sunday, 3,167 tigers were recorded in the wild across the country. This corresponds to an increase of 200 animals compared to the previous census of 2019. In previous decades, however, the Indian tiger population was many times larger.
India is the country with by far the most tigers in the world. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at an event in the south of the country on Sunday that 75 percent of the tigers counted worldwide live in India. The count that has now been published is a “proud moment” for his country and a success for the entire world.
Meanwhile, the rate of growth in the number of tigers has slowed from 30 percent in the previous four-year period to 7 percent. In addition, the population is still negligibly small compared to previous decades. According to estimates, in 1900 there were still 100,000 tigers worldwide. The number has fallen by more than 93 percent in the past 100 years, and tigers still live in the wild in only 13 countries.
At the time of independence from Britain in 1947, India was estimated to have had around 40,000 tigers left. In 2010, India and the 12 other countries where tigers live in the wild signed an agreement aiming to double the number of these wild cats by 2022.
