Rhino populations (AfRSG & other sources, 2022)
Published byalphacastinOur World In Data (OWID)
Last updated 2023-03-04
Dataset Information
Data available from 1895-01-01 to 2021-01-01- Source: Our World In Data
Data was compiled by Our World in Data based on a number of historical sources. Data is based on best estimates: there is greater uncertainty in earlier historical data but is provided as the best estimate of the time.
The main data source for rhino populations is the African and Asian Rhino Specialist Groups (AfRSG). AfRSG periodically produce the latest estimates of rhino populations in Africa and Asia, in update reports of their status. The available literature from AfRSG can be accessed at: http://www.rhinoresourcecenter.com/index.php?s=1&act=refs.
Citation of the latest report is as follows: Emslie, R.H. et al., 2019. African and Asian rhinoceroses - status, conservation and trade. A report from the IUCN Species Survival Commission (IUCN/SSC) African and Asian Rhino Specialist Groups and TRAFFIC to the CITES Secretariat pursuant to Resolution Conf. 9.14 (Rev. CoP17). Report to CITES 17th meeting (Colombo, June 2019), CoP 18 Doc.83.1 annex 3: 1-38
We here estimates from AfRSG is available, we have used its data. However, we have also combined these statistics with earlier estimates from multiple academic sources. These include:
Pusparini, W., Sievert, P. R., Fuller, T. K., Randhir, T. O., & Andayani, N. (2015). Rhinos in the parks: an island-wide survey of the last wild population of the Sumatran rhinoceros. PloS one, 10(9), e0136643.
Emslie, R. and Brooks, M. (1999) African Rhino. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC African Rhino Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. ix + 92 pp.
Thapa, K., Nepal, S., Thapa, G., Bhatta, S. R., & Wikramanayake, E. (2013). Past, present and future conservation of the greater one-horned rhinoceros Rhinoceros unicornis in Nepal. Oryx, 47(3), 345-351.
2020 estimated from the State of the Rhino report (from the International Rhino Foundation): https://rhinos.org/about-rhinos/state-of-the-rhino/ IUCN Species Survival Commission (IUCN/SSC) African and Asian Rhino Specialist Groups (AfRSG) & other sources