What does the Living Planet Index mean?

The 2026 Living Planet Index report is published today. As with previous editions, it makes for a depressing read (despite this year’s title being about the “Science of Hope”).1 The headline is a 73% average decline in wildlife populations since 1970.

While these trends are extremely worrying, the numbers presented in the Living Planet Index (LPI) report are often misunderstood or misreported. In this article, I give a short overview of what these numbers mean — and don’t mean — and what some of the data underneath the headline figure shows.

We’ve written about the LPI several times before, including more technical texts that explain how it should be interpreted. I’ll link to those later, if you want to dig deeper.

The headline figure from the 2026 update of the LPI is that studied wildlife populations declined by an average of 73% from 1970 through 2022. You can see this decline in the chart below.

This covers mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish; it doesn’t yet include invertebrates or plants.

Hannah Ritchie (2026) - “A 73% average decline in wildlife populations: an overview of the 2026 Living Planet Index report” Published online at OurWorldinData.org. Retrieved from: 'https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20261008-063543/2026-lpi-update.html' [Online Resource] (archived on October 8, 2026).