Wildlife populations around the world have declined by an average of 73% since 1970. That’s according to the WWF’s new 2026 Living Planet Index – a major estimate, updated every two years, of the changing state of nature. This does not mean that 73% of the world’s animals have disappeared. Rather, it is the average decline in the size of wildlife populations that is being monitored.
The index is one of the metrics used to track progress towards the UN’s biodiversity goals and shapes narratives of biodiversity loss across the world. But the data behind that 73% headline, one of the most comprehensive available, is still far from complete.
