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July 29 (UPI) -- The population of tigers in India has increased by 6% each year between 2018 and 2022 and the country now hosts three-quarters of the world's total, the government said Saturday on International Tiger Day. According to the Status of Tigers 2022 report, the population of tigers in India increased from 2,967 in 2018 to an average of 3,682 in 2022, the Press Trust of India reported.
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"Central India and the Shivalik Hils and Gangetic Plains witnessed a notable increase in tiger population, particularly in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Maharashtra," India's Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said in statement.
"India currently harbors almost 75% of the world's wild tiger population."
The Indian government launched Project Tiger, an initiative to protect and replenish the local tiger population, in 1973. The project went from covering only nine tiger reserves at its inception to covering 53 tiger reserves.
In 2005, the government adopted stricter enforcement mechanisms to protect reserves.
"We now have a thriving tiger population with lower and upper limit of 3,167-to-3,925 (average 3,682)," Union Cabinet Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav tweeted Saturday.
"Under the ambit of tiger conservation, India has not only successfully safeguarded its tiger population, but also has secured the future of all life forms," he said.
