Asiatic Lions — Population and Second Home
India holds the world's last wild Asiatic lions, and their numbers keep climbing. On World Lion Day 2026 the environment ministry put the count at 891, against 674 in 2020 and 523 a decade ago, with the 16th estimation of May 2025 supplying the current figure. The animals are also spreading out: the ministry now describes a lion range of nearly 35,000 sq km, up from about 30,000 sq km in 2020, and most lions already live outside Gir's protected core. Barda in Porbandar has become a working second home inside Gujarat. What has still not happened is the separate population in another state that the Supreme Court ordered back in 2013.
- Asiatic lion
- Panthera leo persica
- Gir
- Barda Wildlife Sanctuary
- Project Lion
- 16th lion census
- Kuno
- Gujarat
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