The average size of monitored vertebrate wildlife populations fell 73% from 1970 to 2022, according to WWF’s Living Planet Report 2026, which draws on more than 35,000 population records.
The Living Planet Index tracked 35,803 population trends across 5,790 vertebrate species. The figure describes an average change among monitored populations, not a 73% fall in the total number of wild animals or species. WWF says about half of the populations in the index are stable or increasing, but the declines in other populations are large enough to pull the overall measure down.
Freshwater populations showed the steepest ecosystem-level decline, at 85%. The official WWF report gives a 69% decline for land populations and 59% for marine populations. CNN Brasil’s account lists the marine figure as 56%, a discrepancy with WWF’s published data. Across regions, WWF reported the largest decline in Latin America and the Caribbean, at 95%.
Habitat loss and degradation were the most frequently reported pressures, followed by overexploitation, climate change, pollution, invasive species and disease. WWF links these pressures to food, energy and finance systems. In Brazil, the report’s coverage cited Salve data indicating that more than 80% of threatened vertebrate species face threats associated with deforestation.
The report also records examples of recovery. It highlights green turtles, bluefin tuna, tigers and elephants in southern Africa. In Brazil’s Iguaçu region, conservation work helped the jaguar population rise from 11 to 42 between 2019 and 2025, according to figures cited by CNN Brasil. The golden lion tamarin has also moved from critically endangered to endangered after conservation efforts.
Researchers caution that isolated successes do not reverse the broader index decline. WWF argues that sustained habitat protection and restoration, alongside changes to the systems that drive nature loss, are needed to make recovery more widespread.