Wildlife trade covers 107,356 species, more than double earlier estimates

A count more than double earlier estimates

Researchers led from the University of Melbourne report in Science Advances, published on 30 October 2026, that at least 107,356 wild animal, plant and fungus species are traded around the world. That is more than double the roughly 50,000 species put forward in an earlier analysis by IPBES, the intergovernmental science-policy platform on biodiversity. The new count includes more than 47,000 animal species and almost 50,000 plant species in use or trade. The study draws on more comprehensive datasets and on newer research that tracked species sold online for decoration. The authors say the true number could be considerably higher, because many countries lack systematic data on trade and harvesting. According to El País, the study combined almost ten databases, and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) is the main source, recording 40,980 species, the vast majority of them plants.

Earlier IPBES estimate50,000

New study, published 30 October 2026107,356

Earlier IPBES estimate

50000 species

New study, published 30 October 2026

107356 species

Data from the article text

Legal trade makes up most of the value

According to the researchers' calculations, legal trade is worth 220 to 300 billion US dollars a year, or 197 to 268 billion euros. Illegal trade is estimated at 28.4 to 39.5 billion dollars. Most of the trade is therefore legal, although public attention tends to go to smuggling. Alice Hughes, the study's lead author, said that people usually think of illegal trade in elephants, tigers and pangolins when wildlife trade comes up, but the trade covers far more.

“The dimensions of trade have changed. Without monitoring it in a representative way, we cannot manage it.”

Effects on wild populations

Where data exist, traded populations are on average 50 to 60 percent smaller than populations that are not traded. The study links trade directly or indirectly to the global extinction of 294 species. A further 25 species have disappeared from the wild and now survive only in human care. In 192 cases, populations have vanished completely from a region. The study frames these losses as the consequence of unsustainable removal from nature.

Extinct worldwide, trade a direct or indirect contributor294

Extinct in the wild, surviving only in captivity25

Extinct worldwide, trade a direct or indirect contributor

294 species

Extinct in the wild, surviving only in captivity

25 species

Data from the article text

Gaps in monitoring

The study says monitoring is patchy, and the pet and ornamental trade is the hardest part to capture. Online sales of exotic animals have grown, and earlier estimates did not keep pace with that change. Molly Brown, programme officer for wildlife use and trade at IUCN and a co-author, called the findings a reality check and said the count is still an underestimate. Hughes made a similar point:

“At the moment, we are completely underestimating what modern trade looks like.”

The United States has the strongest record, since its Lemis information system has documented trade in more than 21,000 wild animal species since 2000. Even so, 25 percent of the traded bird species and 54 percent of the traded mammal species in the original study appear only in that US database. According to El País, FAO data covers fisheries well but not aquarium fish, and the International Tropical Timber Organization tracks timber. TRAFFIC records illegal seizures, which represent only a small part of the total volume.