Bengaluru: India's wild elephant population has witnessed a worrying decline, with the latest estimation for 2021-25 showing a sharp drop from previous counts. Experts attribute the fall to habitat loss, fragmentation of forest corridors, mining and encroachment, among other pressures on the country's forests.
According to the DNA-based Synchronous All India Population Estimation of Elephants (SAIEE), titled Status of Elephants in India (2021-25), the nationwide elephant population is estimated at 22,446, compared to 27,694 recorded in the 2017 estimation. Earlier surveys had shown a steady rise -- from 19,558 elephants during 1978-83 to 30,051 in 2012 -- before the first decline appeared in 2017, marking the beginning of a downward trend.
Despite the overall fall, Karnataka continues to lead the country in elephant numbers, hosting 6,103 elephants out of the total 22,446. The state's herds, concentrated in protected tracts of the Western Ghats, are considered relatively safe from the threats affecting the elephant populations elsewhere.
The SAIEE exercise, which covered more than 400,000 sq km of forested areas divided into 100-sq-km cells, spanned four broad regions: the Shivalik-Gangetic Plains, Central India and Eastern Ghats, the Western Ghats and the North Eastern Hills and Brahmaputra floodplains.
A historical review of the data shows steady growth until the last decade: 25,569 elephants were counted in 1993, 25,842 in 1995, 26,373 in 2002, 27,694 in 2007 and 30,051 in 2012. The population slipped marginally to 29,964 in 2017, followed by a significant fall to 22,446 in 2021-25. Among the states, after Karnataka, Assam ranks second with 4,159 elephants, followed by Tamil Nadu (3,136), Kerala (2,785), Uttarakhand (1,792) and Odisha (912).
The report underscores that elephants in different regions face varying threats. Those in the Western Ghats, Shivalik-Gangetic Plains and North Eastern Hills are affected by habitat loss, land fragmentation, encroachment and linear infrastructure such as roads and railways that cut across traditional migratory corridors. In Central India, the primary danger arises from intensive mining activity that disturbs forest habitats and elephant movement routes.
Experts say the findings serve as a wake-up call to strengthen conservation measures and secure landscape connectivity before India's elephant population -- once a conservation success story -- faces irreversible decline.