628 tigers died in India in past five years: Government data

New Delhi: A total of 628 tigers died in India during the past five years due to natural causes and other reasons, including poaching, according to government data.

Meanwhile, 349 people were killed in tiger attacks during this period, with Maharashtra alone recording 200 deaths.

According to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), 96 tigers died in 2019, 106 in 2020, 127 in 2021, 121 in 2022, and 178 in 2023.

The number of tiger deaths in 2023 is also the highest since 2012, the data revealed.

Responding to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister of State for Environment Kirti Vardhan Singh said on Thursday that 49 people each were killed in tiger attacks in 2019 and 2020, 59 in 2021, 110 in 2022, and 82 in 2023.

Uttar Pradesh recorded 59 human deaths in tiger attacks while Madhya Pradesh reported 27.

The number of tigers in India stood at 3,682 — around 75 per cent of the global wild tiger population — in 2022, according to the latest government data.

India launched Project Tiger on April 1, 1973, to promote tiger conservation. Initially, it covered nine tiger reserves spanning 18,278 square kilometres.

Currently, India has 55 tiger reserves covering more than 78,735 square kilometres — nearly 2.4 per cent of the country’s geographical area — of tiger habitat.