There has been an annual growth of 6% in India’s tiger population which touched 2,967 across 53 tiger reserves in the country that now account for 70% of the world’s tiger population, the government informed the Supreme Court on Friday.

India achieved the target of doubling its tiger population in 2018, four years ahead of the St Petersburg declaration on tiger conservation. The tiger population in the country has grown steadily to more than double from 1,411 in 2006.

In a status report, National Tiger Conservation Authority said, “India has become home to more than 70 per cent tiger population in the world. A comprehensive report of All India Tiger Estimation (2018) was released on July 29, 2020. The fourth round of country-level tiger status assessment was completed in 2018, with findings indicating an increase with a tiger population estimates at 2,967 up from 2,226 in 2014..

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, representing the Centre, informed the Supreme that a lot of work has been done for the conservation of tigers and increasing their population.

Due to efforts of the government through the National Tiger Conservation Authority, the tiger has been taken from the brink of extinction to an assured path of recovery, which is evident in findings of the quadrennial All India Tiger Estimation All India Tiger Estimation conducted in 2006, 2010, and 2014 and 2018, it said.