Species abundance, England

Official statistics in development

The relative abundance of species in England each year since 1970 (1970 = 100), for all species with suitable data and for priority species, in both of Defra's smoothings.

All species abundance, option 1 (1970 = 100)

60.3

2024 · option 2 59.9; priority species 19.8 and 19.7

Verified against source, 9 November 2026, 15:13 UTC

Species abundance, England

All species, option 1
All species, option 2
Priority species, option 1
Priority species, option 2

Source: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Data table

55 periods, newest first

Period	All species, option 1	All species, option 2	Priority species, option 1	Priority species, option 2
2024	60.3	59.9	19.8	19.7
2023	63.3	63.3	21.1	21.5
2022	65.4	65.6	22.2	22.8
2021	66.8	66.9	23.0	23.6
2020	67.6	67.4	23.6	23.9
2019	67.8	67.3	24.0	23.8
2018	67.6	66.7	24.3	23.5
2017	67.2	65.8	24.5	23.2
2016	66.7	64.9	24.6	23.0
2015	66.2	64.3	24.6	23.3
2014	65.8	64.4	24.6	24.0
2013	65.6	65.1	24.6	25.0
2012	65.6	66.3	24.6	25.9
2011	65.8	67.5	24.6	26.1
2010	66.2	68.6	24.7	25.8
2009	66.7	69.1	24.8	25.2
2008	67.3	69.2	24.9	24.7
2007	67.9	69.1	25.1	24.5
2006	68.3	69.4	25.2	24.8
2005	68.7	70.2	25.4	25.6
2004	68.9	70.5	25.5	26.3
2003	69.1	69.1	25.7	26.5
2002	69.2	66.2	26.0	26.0
2001	69.3	63.6	26.5	25.4
2000	69.5	63.3	27.0	25.3
1999	70.0	65.7	27.8	26.2
1998	70.7	70.1	28.8	27.9
1997	71.7	74.7	30.1	30.2
1996	73.0	78.5	31.7	32.8
1995	74.5	81.0	33.6	35.5
1994	76.3	82.3	35.7	37.9
1993	78.2	82.6	38.1	40.0
1992	80.2	82.3	40.7	41.9
1991	82.0	81.8	43.3	43.8
1990	83.6	81.3	46.0	45.7
1989	84.9	81.2	48.6	47.6
1988	85.9	81.5	51.0	49.7
1987	86.5	82.7	53.2	51.9
1986	86.7	84.9	55.2	54.3
1985	86.6	87.6	57.1	56.7
1984	86.1	89.4	58.7	58.9
1983	85.4	88.5	60.2	60.4
1982	84.5	85.2	61.6	61.2
1981	83.4	81.6	62.9	62.3
1980	82.4	79.9	64.3	64.3
1979	81.5	80.5	65.7	67.4
1978	80.8	82.3	67.3	70.7
1977	80.4	84.0	69.1	73.1
1976	80.4	84.6	71.3	74.4
1975	81.0	84.3	73.9	75.2
1974	82.4	83.6	77.1	76.5
1973	84.7	83.5	81.1	79.0
1972	88.1	85.1	86.0	83.2
1971	93.1	89.9	92.2	89.9
1970	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

Download CSV Download JSON with full provenance

Source and licence

Publisher

Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs

Check it yourself

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/indicators-of-species-abundance-in-england

Licence

Open Government Licence v3.0 – Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Retrieved

9 November 2026, 14:58 UTC

Raw files fetched

https://www.gov.uk/api/content/government/statistics/indicators-of-species-abundance-in-englandSHA-256 4b697fe7f6ade69a1c591e1d438773b87356f3c5e78f983d9729113a439829db · 2,747 bytes
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69ef66e4d36883a64473ba1f/Indicators_of_species_abundance_in_England__1970_to_2024.odsSHA-256 13577bb2eaca320991d83ee8e7fa47c5107c2753eb3938372eb1a7e6bf44072e · 117,058 bytes

Verification

Verified against source, 9 November 2026, 15:13 UTC Run at 9 November 2026, 15:13 UTC; 220 of 220 figures matched the live source.

Result	Check	Detail
Pass	Provenance recorded	Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; Open Government Licence v3.0; retrieved 2026-11-09T14:58:30Z; 2 raw file(s)
Pass	Raw files match recorded SHA-256	2 of 2 files intact
Pass	Re-parsing raw files reproduces figures	220 of 220 figures and the headline reproduced; the meta's accreditation and credible_intervals match
Pass	Figures are finite numbers	220 figures, 0 invalid
Pass	Live source matches every figure	220 of 220 figures match exactly after downloading 2 source file(s) again (2 byte-identical); the headline matches; the meta's accreditation and credible_intervals match
Pass	GOV.UK table is current	latest period 2024 ended 678 days before retrieval (limit 920), from Indicators of species abundance in England 1970 to 2024
Pass	Defra's publication agrees	8 of 8 cases of the falls in the index https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/indicators-of-species-abundance-in-england/indicators-of-species-abundance-in-england states, around a whole per cent, are the record's in both smoothings, the fall in per cent against the figure stated within 0.5 (0 exactly), 1 of them by the publisher's known difference: Priority species, option 1, 2019 to 2024 (+0.525343)
Pass	Defra still calls it in development	the publication says 'This publication is an official statistic in development'
Pass	Each index lies within its credible interval	220 of 220 cases of the years give an index between Defra's lower and upper credible interval
Pass	Each index is 100 in 1970	4 of 4 cases of the four series are 100 in 1970
Pass	Worksheets 2 and 5 count Worksheet 8's species	4 of 4 cases of the trend assessments count the species Worksheet 8 gives each indicator, short of it only by the species note 5 says have no short-term trend, 2 of them by the publisher's known difference: All species, short term (-4), Priority species, short term (-3)
Pass	Source page answers	https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/indicators-of-species-abundance-in-england – HTTP 200

Notes

Defra's index of the average relative abundance of the species in each indicator, with 1970 = 100: all the species with suitable data on the Environment Act 2021's list (birds and butterflies aside, which are published apart), and the priority species of section 41 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006. Defra publishes two smoothings, option 1 over ten years and option 2 over three, and prefers neither, so both are shown. Defra treats the latest years as provisional while some species' trends wait to be updated. Each year's lower and upper credible interval is in the record's JSON.