© 1364790498 / iStock
Polar bear population
How many polar bears are there?
Current polar bear populations
22-31,000
polar bears worldwide, estimated
Source: IUCN (How is this range calculated?)
19
distinct sub-populations
60-80%
of polar bears are in Canada
IUCN Red List status by country
International: Vulnerable
Canada: Special Concern
Greenland / Denmark: Vulnerable
Norway: Vulnerable
Russia: Indeterminate, Rare, or Recovering, depending on population
United States: Threatened
© WWF
A timeline of polar bear conservation
Before 1973
Polar bears are an integral part of the Arctic ecosystem and the food web for Indigenous Peoples — who have hunted polar bears sustainably for millennia. But, beginning in the 1700s, large-scale hunting by European, Russian and North American hunters and trappers took place, raising concerns about the future survival of polar bears. Unregulated commercial and recreational hunting continued until the 1970s.
1973
Canada, the United States, Denmark, Norway and the former USSR signed the International Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears and their Habitat, strictly regulating commercial hunting.
The US Government classified the Polar Bear under its Endangered Species Act (ESA).
2005
The polar bear was upgraded from Least Concern to Vulnerable by the the IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group.
2013
Ministers and other leaders from the five polar bear range states met in Moscow for the first International Forum on Polar Bear Conservation. The leaders made significant commitments to address issues of polar bear habitat, research and trade. This event was supported by WWF.
Today
Today, polar bears are among the few large carnivores that are still found in roughly their original habitat and range–and in some places, in roughly their natural numbers.
Although most of the world’s 19 populations have returned to healthy numbers, there are differences between them. Some are stable, some seem to be increasing, and some are decreasing due to various pressures.
Status of the polar bear populations
Updated 2021 with data from the IUCN Polar Bear Specialists Group:
3 populations are in decline
2 populations are increasing
4 populations are stable
10 populations are data-deficient (information missing or outdated)
In the future
By 2040, scientists predict that only a fringe of ice will remain in Northeast Canada and Northern Greenland when all other large areas of summer ice are gone. This “Last Ice Area” is likely to become important for polar bears and other life that depends on ice.
A projection of sea ice in the archipelago, supported by WWF, shows that much of the region is facing significant ice loss in the coming decades – with potentially serious consequences for polar bears.
Global polar bear numbers are projected to decline by 30% by 2050.
