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WWF is committed to saving endangered species. Learn more about the species we are working to protecting from becoming endangered or extinct.
A vulnerable species is a species which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being threatened with extinction unless the circumstances that are threatening its survival and reproduction improve.
The IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria are intended to be an easily and widely understood system for classifying species at high risk of global extinction. It divides species into nine categories: Not Evaluated, Data Deficient, Least Concern, Near Threatened, Vulnerable, Endangered, Critically Endangered, Extinct in the Wild and Extinct.
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ is the world’s most comprehensive information source on the global extinction risk status of animal, fungus and plant species. Open to all, it is used by governmental bodies, non-profit organisations, businesses and individuals.
A species is vulnerable if its population has declined at least 50 percent and the cause of the decline is known. Habitat loss is the leading known cause of population decline. A species is also classified as vulnerable if its population has declined at least 30 percent and the cause of the decline is not known.
Currently, there are more than 163,000 species on The IUCN Red List, with more than 45,300 species threatened with extinction, including 41% of amphibians, 37% of sharks and rays, 36% of reef building corals, 34% of conifers, 26% of mammals and 12% of birds.
Red List Index (RLI) The Red List Index (RLI) shows trends in overall extinction risk for species, and is used by governments to track their progress towards targets for reducing biodiversity loss.
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, objective assessment system for classifying the status of plants, animals, and other organisms threatened with extinction. Unveiled in 1994, the list contains criteria and categories to classify species on the basis of their probability of extinction.
The IUCN assessed a total of 63,837 species which revealed 19,817 are threatened with extinction. 3,947 were described as "critically endangered" and 5,766 as "endangered", while more than 10,000 species are listed as "vulnerable".
Assess the state of the world’s species using nine categories Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN) and Vulnerable (VU) species are considered to be threatened with extinction. The IUCN Red List is a critical indicator of the health of the world’s biodiversity–a Barometer of Life– telling us what we need to know to save wild species.
