India's big cat count surpasses 3,600; 75% of the world's wild tigers now in country

Currently, India has 53 reserves, out of which Uttarakhand's Corbett National Park leads with the highest tiger count at 260.

India is currently home to 75 percent of the world's wild tigers, according to the Status of Tigers 2022 report. The progress comes on the back of the rising tiger count in the country.

According to the latest government data released on the International Tiger Day on July 29, the tiger count in India has risen from 2,967 in 2018 to 3,682 in 2022 - marking an annual rise of roughly 6 percent.

"With this, India has become home to approximately 75 percent of the world’s tiger population," Union Minister of State for Forest, Environment and Climate Change Ashwini Kumar Choubey said in Ramnagar while releasing the data for 2022.

Currently, India has 53 reserves, out of which Uttarakhand's Corbett National Park leads with the highest tiger count at 260. It is followed by Bandipur with a count of 150 and Nagarhole with a count of 141 in Karnataka; Bandhavgarh, with a count of 135 in Madhya Pradesh; and Dudhwa, with a count of 135 in Uttar Pradesh.

Furthermore, the Kaziranga National Park in Assam has recorded 104 tigers, while Sundarbans in West Bengal has 100 of the big cats.

Meanwhile, state-wise, Madhya Pradesh continues being home to the largest population of tigers at 785, as per the All India Tiger Estimation, 2022 report.

Furthermore, this year, the country's iconic Project Tiger marked 50 years. Project Tiger is a first-of-its-kind species conservation program that helped India's tiger population grow to a commendable number in the last five decades.

Also Read: 50 years of Project Tiger | Remembering Kailash Sankhala, first director of Project Tiger

The number of tigers countrywide, however, have not been seeing uniform rise. In fact, tiger population has been declining in several areas. Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Telangana, and Chhattisgarh have recorded declines in tiger count. Moreover, no tigers are estimated to exist in Mizoram and Nagaland.

Additionally, as per conservationists, the focus on tiger has come at the expense of other critically endangered species (their numbers rose from 47 in 2011 to 73 in 2022 as per data presented in the Rajya Sabha) and forest-dwelling communities.

Also Read: International Tiger Day 2023: 'Several tiger reserves are nearing carrying capacity'

Earlier this April, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had unveiled the “Status of Tigers 2022”, on the occasion of the 50-year anniversary of Project Tiger. Tiger census is held every four years in the country.