Almost half of migratory bird species declining worldwide
A new BirdLife report says that 45 per cent of 1,843 migratory bird species have a declining population trend.
Almost half of the migratory bird species studied are declining worldwide, BirdLife International reports in its new State of the World’s Birds. Coastal birds and seabirds are particularly under pressure as habitats along entire migration routes disappear or deteriorate.
BirdLife studied 1,843 migratory bird species using data from the IUCN Red List and scientific literature. The global population trend is declining for 45 per cent, 30 per cent are stable and 14 per cent are increasing. For 11 per cent, there are insufficient data to establish a trend.
The figures describe the share of species with a declining trend, not the percentage of birds that have disappeared. Regional developments can also mask one another: a species may appear stable worldwide while its population is declining in an important part of its range. BirdLife therefore warns of major differences between species and migration routes.
The most serious problems are reported among species dependent on the sea, forests and coastal marshes. Of the migratory birds that use coastal areas and other marine habitats, approximately half have a declining trend. In European long-term data, the group of long-distance migrants declined by approximately 35 per cent between 1980 and 2024, according to monitoring cited by BirdLife.
According to BirdLife, the causes do not lie in one place. Agricultural intensification, the loss of resting and feeding areas, climate change, invasive species and unsustainable hunting can reinforce one another along the way. A bird that breeds in Europe may depend on wetlands in Africa or Asia during the same annual cycle; protection in one location is then insufficient.
The report is an international conservation analysis, not a separate new peer-reviewed study. The authors point out that monitoring is limited in parts of Asia and other regions. At the same time, BirdLife also cites recovery: coordinated measures for the Balkan population of the Egyptian vulture have, according to the organisation, brought the previous decline there to a halt. The debate is thus shifting from individual nature reserves to entire flyways, including agriculture, fisheries and spatial planning.
One story, several perspectives
What is established
- BirdLife reports declining trends in 45 per cent of 1,843 migratory bird species.
- Coastal birds and seabirds are among the groups worst affected.
- Important threats are spread across multiple countries and habitats.
- The quality of monitoring varies by region.
Left
Arguments A left-wing perspective will place international nature conservation, wetland restoration and restrictions on intensive agriculture and pollution at the centre. It stresses that market prices do not automatically account for ecological damage along migration routes.
Values Environmental justice, protection of public nature and international solidarity.
Consequences From this perspective, delay could lead to higher restoration costs and the loss of species that cannot easily be brought back.
Centre
Arguments An institutional centrist perspective will focus on measurable protection for each flyway, cooperation between countries and policies that combine nature targets with agriculture, fisheries and regional development. Better monitoring first could help target scarce resources more effectively.
Values Practical feasibility, scientific grounding and administrative cooperation.
Consequences The approach may produce results gradually, but requires long-term funding and compromises between competing forms of land use.
Right
Arguments A right-wing perspective will stress that protection must be targeted and cost-effective and that local communities and farmers should not be made to pay unilaterally for international goals. It may favour voluntary agreements, innovation and enforcement against specific illegal hunting.
Values Property, subsidiarity, economic freedom and responsibility in the use of public money.
Consequences A more restrained policy may limit burdens, but critics say it risks addressing cross-border problems in a fragmented way.
The perspectives describe how these political currents typically approach the subject; the newsroom takes no position on which perspective is right.
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The numerical claims can be found directly in the BirdLife analysis, and the context concerning uncertainties is also explicitly documented. The text presents the causes as factors identified by BirdLife and makes no stronger causal claim than the sources support.
- confirmed 45 per cent of 1,843 migratory bird species have a declining global population trend. — BirdLife DataZone gives these figures based on the IUCN Red List. source
- confirmed 30 per cent of the species are stable, 14 per cent are increasing and the trend is unknown for 11 per cent. — This distribution appears in the same BirdLife analysis. source
- confirmed Long-distance migrants in pan-European monitoring declined by approximately 35 per cent between 1980 and 2024. — BirdLife refers here to data from the Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme. source
- confirmed BirdLife identifies agricultural intensification, climate change, invasive species and unsustainable hunting as important factors. — These factors are mentioned in the report’s publication. source
- confirmed The report is a synthesis and not a separate new peer-reviewed study. — BirdLife describes it as a four-yearly assessment that brings together its own data and literature. source
Editor's note
The percentages and causes come from BirdLife’s reporting and the accompanying IUCN-based analysis; Mongabay provides independent context. The data are not equally complete everywhere and the report is a synthesis, not a new peer-reviewed experiment.Sources
- Birds are running out of places to land: 45% of migratory bird species now in decline — BirdLife International
- Migratory bird populations are in decline — BirdLife DataZone
- BirdLife's new State of the World's Birds report: 45% of migratory species declining — Mongabay