India Has About 22,446 Wild Elephants, Shows First DNA-Based Census

India's wild elephant population stands at 22,446, according to the latest All-India Synchronous Elephant Estimation (SAIEE) 2025, released by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) on Tuesday. The figure is approximately 17% lower than the 2017 estimate of 27,312. Scientists said the two figures were not directly comparable because advanced genetic methods, not visual counts, were used this time around.

The census, conducted jointly by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Project Elephant, and the WII, is India's first-ever DNA-based elephant count. The report, released at WII's annual research seminar in Dehradun, puts the country's elephant population within a range of 18,255 to 26,645, with the average being 22,446.

The SAIEE report also underlined ongoing threats from habitat loss, infrastructure projects, and human-elephant conflict, for the decline in numbers. Shrinking habitats and blocked corridors were reportedly forcing elephants into human areas, causing more cases of electrocution, train accidents, and retaliatory killings.

For the 2025 count, researchers collected 21,056 dung samples across elephant habitats, covering 6.7 lakh km of forest trails. Using DNA fingerprinting, scientists identified 4,065 unique elephants and applied a mark-recapture model to estimate the national population. Officials said the use of genetic methods delayed the report, which began in 2021, because the data took longer to verify.

Unlike earlier counts based on direct sightings, the new DNA-based method is more accurate and avoids duplication, similar to the technique used for tiger estimates. 

India is home to over 60 per cent of the world's remaining Asian elephants. 

The Western Ghats remain India's largest elephant stronghold, with 11,934 elephants, followed by the Northeastern Hills and Brahmaputra floodplains with 6,559. The Shivalik Hills and Gangetic plains support 2,062 elephants, while Central India and the Eastern Ghats host 1,891.

At the state level, Karnataka continues to lead with 6,013 elephants, followed by Assam (4,159), Tamil Nadu (3,136), Kerala (2,785), and Uttarakhand (1,792). Odisha has 912 elephants, while smaller populations persist in Arunachal Pradesh (617), Meghalaya (677), Nagaland (252), and Tripura (153). Madhya Pradesh (97) and Maharashtra (63) have the smallest, fragmented herds.