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The global polar bear population is estimated to be 20000-25000 individuals as of 2023, shared between all countries included in the species' range: Canada, Greenland, Norway, Russia, and the United States, as well as in international polar regions.
Those eforts should be hailed as a conservation success story: from late-1960s population estimate by the US Fish and Wildlife Service of about 12,000 individuals, numbers have almost tripled, to just over 32,000 in 2023 (with a wide range of potential error for both esti-mates).
How many polar bears are there? See current polar bear populations, IUCN Red List status by country and timeline of polar bear conservation.
Based on subpopulation estimates, and presumed densities in areas where numbers are unknown, as of 2015 the IUCN/SSC PBSG estimates that there are approximately 22,000–31,000 polar bears across the Arctic. The current range covered by these subpopulations represents a total land and marine area of approximately 23 million km2.
17 paź 2023 · The AB subpopulation is a geographic designation to account for polar bears occurring in the most northern areas of the circumpolar Arctic that are not clearly part of other subpopulations. The total number of bears that use the AB region, and whether these bears are residents or transients, is unknown.
Status of the polar bear populations Updated 2019 with data from the IUCN Polar Bear Specialists Group. 4 populations are in decline; 2 populations are increasing; 5 populations are stable; 8 populations are data-deficient (information missing or outdated)
Click on a subpopulation below to explore the latest statistics. The 20 subpopulation boundaries are available for use in GIS software. Use the buttons below to download either as a Shapefile or a GeoPackage (EPSG: 3413).
