Tanzania has many more lions than than anywhere else in Africa
- Apr 27
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 28
With around 23,000 African lions believed to be left in the wild, official figures show that more than 14,500 live within Tanzania's protected areas. That's more than 60% of the entire wild population.
In a recent address, Dr. Hassan Abbasi - Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Natural Resources & Tourism (MNRT), stated that Tanzania believes it's lion populations may even have increased to above 17,000, He explained that Tanzania's conservation efforts have led to a significant decline in poaching and a steady recovery of numerous wildlife populations, particularly lions. Tanzania has around 6 lions for every one lion recorded in Kenya (see table below)
Unthinkably, African lion numbers have plummeted - halving in just 30 years and way down on the 200,000 believed to have existed only a century ago. Three-quarters of their populations are in decline. The main threats are human-wildlife conflict and natural prey decline, as well as habitat loss, climate change and wildlife trade. They are officially classified as ‘vulnerable’, but require substantial and, in some cases, specific conservation efforts to halt their severe decline.
As a result, African lions are now confined to a number of isolated areas as shown on the map (in green), amounting to only about 8% of its historic territory shown in the pink shaded areas.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, Microsoft, Facebook, Inc. and its affiliates, Esri Community Maps contributors, Map layer by Esri | Range data © African Lion Database. Unpublished Data. 2023 2024. Panthera leo. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2025-1. https://www.iucnredlist.org.
LIon populations by country
Tanzania ~14,500
South Africa ~3,284 (Note: Some estimates place it lower, <1,900)
Botswana ~3,063 (Note: Some estimates place it lower, ~1,445)
Kenya ~2,515 (Note: Some estimates place it <1,558)
Zambia ~2,349
Zimbabwe ~1,362
Ethiopia ~1,239
South Sudan ~866
Namibia ~801
Mozambique ~678
Uganda ~493
Cameroon ~270
DR Congo ~210
Sudan ~183
Burkina Faso ~155
Niger ~134
Benin ~120
Chad ~115
Nigeria ~50
Rwanda ~40
Angola ~35
Senegal ~30
Malawi ~17
Central African Republic ~10
Gabon ~2
Tanzania and Uganda have recently agreed to strengthen cooperation in wildlife conservation, tourism and natural resource management to boost the sectors' contribution to sustainable development.
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