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              1. Polar Bear

WWF-Canon Polar Bear Tracker

Follow polar bears "live" as we track them on their Arctic journeys

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Polar bear status, distribution & population

Current polar bear subpopulation map: July 2009

Locations of polar bear populations around the Arctic as of July, 2009. Click on the image above to see a larger jpeg version of this map.

© WWF

Historic status

Several polar bear populations were decimated by unsustainable hunting by European, Russian and American hunters and trappers from the 1600s right through to the mid-1970's.

In 1973 commercial hunting was strictly regulated following the signing of an international agreement on polar bear conservation.

Reviewing the latest information available the PBSG concluded that 1 of 19 subpopulations is currently increasing, 3 are stable and 8 are declining.  For the remaining 7 subpopulations available data were insufficient to provide an assessment of current trend.  The total number of polar bears is still thought to be between 20,000 and 25,000.

Polar Bear Specialist Group. July 2009

Latest polar bear news

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Current bear populations

  • 20-25,000 polar bears worldwide
  • Aproximately 19 distinct sub-populations (see above map)
  • 60% of these are in Canada
  • Tracks have been reported as far north as the pole
  • Few scientists believe few bears travel beyond 82° north latitude. This is because the northern Arctic Ocean has little food for them.

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 populations have returned to healthy numbers, there are differences between the populations. Some are stable, some seem to be increasing, and some are decreasing due to various pressures. There are large uncertainties regarding some populations that are still harvested quite heavily and others for which information is lacking.


Conservation Status

In 1973, Canada, the United States, Denmark, Norway and the former USSR signed the International Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears and their Habitat.

In 2005, the IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group (PBSG) reviewed the status of polar bears using the IUCN Red List categories and criteria.

The group concluded that the Red List classification of the polar bear should be upgraded from Least Concern to Vulnerable based on the likelihood of a decline in the total global polar bear population of more than 30% within the next 35 to 50 years.

The US Government has classified the Polar Bear under its Endangered Species Act (ESA).

The main cause of this projected decline in polar bear numbers is climatic warming and its consequent negative effects on the sea ice habitat of polar bears.

This agreement on the status of polar bears regulates hunting and habitat protection, but it does not protect bears against the biggest man-made threat to their survival: global warming.

If current warming trends continue unabated, scientists believe that polar bears will be vulnerable to extinction within the next century.


IUCN Red List Categories

EXTINCT (EX)
A taxon is Extinct when there is no reasonable doubt that the last individual has died. A taxon is presumed Extinct when exhaustive surveys in known and/or expected habitat, at appropriate times (diurnal, seasonal, annual), throughout its historic range have failed to record an individual. Surveys should be over a time frame appropriate to the taxon's life cycle and life form.

EXTINCT IN THE WILD (EW)
A taxon is Extinct in the Wild when it is known only to survive in cultivation, in captivity or as a naturalized population (or populations) well outside the past range. A taxon is presumed Extinct in the Wild when exhaustive surveys in known and/or expected habitat, at appropriate times (diurnal, seasonal, annual), throughout its historic range have failed to record an individual. Surveys should be over a time frame appropriate to the taxon's life cycle and life form.

CRITICALLY ENDANGERED (CR)
A taxon is Critically Endangered when the best available evidence indicates that it meets any of the criteria A to E for Critically Endangered (see Section V), and it is therefore considered to be facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.

ENDANGERED (EN)
A taxon is Endangered when the best available evidence indicates that it meets any of the criteria A to E for Endangered (see Section V), and it is therefore considered to be facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild.

VULNERABLE (VU)
A taxon is Vulnerable when the best available evidence indicates that it meets any of the criteria A to E for Vulnerable (see Section V), and it is therefore considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild.

NEAR THREATENED (NT)
A taxon is Near Threatened when it has been evaluated against the criteria but does not qualify for Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable now, but is close to qualifying for or is likely to qualify for a threatened category in the near future.

LEAST CONCERN (LC)
A taxon is Least Concern when it has been evaluated against the criteria and does not qualify for Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable or Near Threatened. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category.

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