India lost as many as 166 tigers in 2025, according to the latest data released by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), triggering renewed concern over the growing pressures faced by the country’s expanding big cat population. The figure marks a sharp increase from 126 tiger deaths reported in 2024 and comes despite India continuing to hold nearly three-fourths of the world’s wild tiger population.
Data compiled by the NTCA shows that Madhya Pradesh reported the highest number of tiger deaths at 55, followed by Maharashtra with 38 fatalities. Kerala recorded 13 tiger deaths, while Assam reported 12. Of the total deaths nationwide, 31 were tiger cubs, underlining the vulnerability of younger animals in increasingly crowded forest landscapes.
Wildlife experts point to territorial pressure as one of the most significant contributors to the rising mortality figures. As tiger numbers have steadily grown over the past decade, competition for space within core forest areas has intensified. Experts say this has led to more frequent territorial fights, particularly involving young and dispersing tigers.
Madhya Pradesh illustrates this trend most starkly. Official estimates show the state’s tiger population rose from 308 in 2014 to 526 in 2018 and further to 785 in 2022, representing nearly a 60 per cent increase over eight years. Conservationists warn that while population growth reflects successful protection efforts, it has also created new challenges related to space, prey availability and safe dispersal routes.
The NTCA’s timeline of tiger fatalities in 2025 reveals that the first death was reported on January 2 from the Bramhapuri forest division in Maharashtra, where an adult male tiger was found dead. Just days later, an adult female tiger died in the Pench Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh. The final reported case of the year was an adult male tiger found dead in North Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, on December 28.
While many of the deaths in Madhya Pradesh were attributed to natural causes, authorities confirmed that a number of cases were linked to poaching. Seven tiger deaths were also caused by electrocution, highlighting the continued dangers posed by illegal power lines and poorly regulated human activity near forest boundaries.
Forest officials say young tigers and sub-adults are particularly at risk during the dispersal phase, which typically begins after cubs separate from their mothers at around 20 months of age. Male tigers, in particular, travel long distances in search of territory, often bringing them into conflict with dominant adults or pushing them closer to human-dominated landscapes.
Experts also warn that fragmented forest corridors are limiting free movement between habitats, increasing stress within protected areas themselves. As tigers struggle to move into less crowded regions, conflicts both among tigers and between tigers and humans are becoming more frequent.
India’s latest all-India tiger estimation, released on International Tiger Day in 2023, showed that the country’s tiger population rose from 2,967 in 2018 to 3,682 in 2022, reflecting an annual growth rate of about six per cent. While this success has been widely acknowledged globally, conservationists stress that sustaining this growth will require urgent focus on habitat expansion, corridor connectivity and conflict mitigation.
With tiger numbers continuing to rise, experts say the priority must now shift towards ensuring sufficient space, strengthening ecological corridors and reducing human pressure on forests to secure the long-term future of India’s most iconic species.