India houses 2,967 tigers, an increase of 741 tigers since 2014

New Delhi: With nearly 3,000 tigers, India has become ‘one of the safest habitats’ for the big cats in the world, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he released the All India Tiger Estimation Report-2018 here this morning.

Modi said that the population of tigers in the country has increased from 2,226 in 2014 to 2,967 in 2018, a rise of 33 per cent (741 tigers), according to the latest tiger census report. “The results of the just declared tiger census would make every Indian, every nature-lover happy,” PM Modi said added.

“Nine long years ago, it was decided in St. Petersburg that the target of doubling the tiger population would be 2022. We, in India, completed this target four years early,” PM Modi said.

To mark the International Tiger Day, the PM released a report titled ‘Management Effectiveness & Evaluation of Tiger reserves’ and also a trailer of the movie ‘Counting Tigers,’  which explains the procedure of counting tigers in India.

Karnataka loses top spot to MP by a whisker

Karnataka, which had held the top spot in tiger count in 2010 (300 tigers) and 2014 (406 tigers), lost the top spot to Madhya Pradesh (MP) by two tigers.

The top five States are: Madhya Pradesh – 526 (308 in 2014); Karnataka – 524 (406 in 2014); Uttarakhand – 442 (340 in 2014); Maharashtra – 312 (190 in 2014) and Tamil Nadu – 264 (229 in 2014).

Regions with highest tiger population

The Central Indian Landscape and Eastern Ghats region comprising Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Rajasthan has 1,633 tigers compared to 688 in 2014 followed by Western Ghats Landscape region comprising Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu with 981 tigers as against 776 in 2014. 

Shivalik Hills and Gangetic Plains Landscape region comprising Bihar, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh has a total of 646 tigers compared to 485 in 2014. 

The North East Hills and Brahmaputra Plains Landscape region comprising Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Northern West Bengal has 219 tigers when compared to 201 in 2014.