Tracking what's alive on Earth and what affects it.
Humans, now
On the wall: 1,000 or fewer left in the wild
Asiatic lion
about891
Estimate, no range
2025
Panthera leo (Asiatic population)
Saurashtra, Gujarat, India (Gir and 11 surrounding districts)
Counted 2025, by India's Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
The latest official figure for the Asiatic lion is about 891, an estimate with no range, counted in 2025 and published by India's Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
The only wild Asiatic lions rose from 674 in 2020 to about 891 in 2025, spreading into new areas.
How it was counted
The figure counts animals (not pairs, nests or area) and covers the whole wild population of Asiatic lions, which lives only in Greater Gir. India's Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change published it as an estimate with no range, so it reads as about 891.
India's Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change gives 891 as an estimate with no range, so read it as about this many lions, not exactly this many.
Earlier figures
- 674 in 2020: the previous count. Source: Press Information Bureau, Government of India.
What moves it
The number is up since the 2020 count, India's Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change reports; the pressures it names are conflict with people and disease as lions spread into new areas, and trains on railway lines through lion areas.
- conflict with people and disease, as lions spread into new areas (notified forests, river corridors and revenue wasteland).
The State has taken up various measures to manage human-wildlife conflicts and disease vulnerability by strengthening veterinary facilities.
Source: Press Information Bureau, Government of India. - trains on railway lines through lion areas.
SOP for protection of lions around railway tracks developed, speed restrictions of trains in hotspot areas
Source: Press Information Bureau, Government of India.
Who is helping
The State of Gujarat has taken measures against conflict and disease, among them restored grasslands and more prey, protected corridors and lion movement routes, and stronger protection of satellite populations (as India's Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change reported to Parliament). India's Union government and the State of Gujarat are developing Barda Wildlife Sanctuary as a new site where lions can spread naturally.
The next count
The lions are counted every 5 years. No date for the next count is known as of 12 November 2026.
Sources
- Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India (PIB release, 14 May 2026) Last checked 12 November 2026.
- Press Information Bureau, Government of India Last checked 12 November 2026.
What changed
- 12 November 2026 Added to Live Species, on the wall (1,000 or fewer): About 891 (Estimate, no range, 2025).
Next on the wall
The letter
The letter comes once a month, on the first Thursday. It gives what changed on Live Species, one animal up close and the humans figure for contrast.