Plant species (higher), threatened - Country Ranking

Definition: Higher plants are native vascular plant species. Threatened species are the number of species classified by the IUCN as endangered, vulnerable, rare, indeterminate, out of danger, or insufficiently known.

Source: United Nations Environmental Program and the World Conservation Monitoring Centre, and International Union for Conservation of Nature, Red List of Threatened Species.

See also: Thematic map, Time series comparison

Find indicator:
Rank Country Value Year
1 Ecuador 1,859.00 2018
2 Madagascar 1,111.00 2018
3 Malaysia 727.00 2018
4 Tanzania 644.00 2018
5 China 593.00 2018
6 Brazil 558.00 2018
7 Cameroon 555.00 2018
8 United States 510.00 2018
9 Mexico 484.00 2018
10 Indonesia 458.00 2018
11 India 396.00 2018
12 New Caledonia 350.00 2018
13 Peru 328.00 2018
14 Sri Lanka 297.00 2018
15 Colombia 268.00 2018
16 Philippines 254.00 2018
17 Spain 247.00 2018
18 Kenya 243.00 2018
19 Vietnam 231.00 2018
20 Jamaica 215.00 2018
21 Panama 212.00 2018
22 Nigeria 205.00 2018
23 Papua New Guinea 179.00 2018
23 Cuba 179.00 2018
25 Gabon 173.00 2018
26 Yemen 163.00 2018
27 Thailand 159.00 2018
28 South Africa 153.00 2018
29 Dem. Rep. Congo 148.00 2018
30 Mozambique 145.00 2018
31 Costa Rica 143.00 2018
32 Honduras 134.00 2018
33 Brunei 127.00 2018
34 Guatemala 120.00 2018
35 Ghana 119.00 2018
36 Côte d'Ivoire 118.00 2018
37 Turkey 113.00 2018
38 Australia 108.00 2018
39 Bolivia 106.00 2018
40 Italy 102.00 2018
41 Portugal 101.00 2018
42 Equatorial Guinea 98.00 2018
43 Haiti 93.00 2018
44 Mauritius 91.00 2018
45 Burundi 89.00 2018
46 Venezuela 86.00 2018
47 Fiji 78.00 2018
48 Armenia 74.00 2018
49 Chile 73.00 2018
50 Greece 72.00 2018
50 Sierra Leone 72.00 2018
52 Guinea 70.00 2018
52 Argentina 70.00 2018
54 Ethiopia 64.00 2018
54 Puerto Rico 64.00 2018
54 Uganda 64.00 2018
57 Georgia 63.00 2018
58 Singapore 62.00 2018
59 Seychelles 61.00 2018
59 Myanmar 61.00 2018
61 Lao PDR 56.00 2018
61 Russia 56.00 2018
63 Liberia 53.00 2018
64 Morocco 52.00 2018
64 Zimbabwe 52.00 2018
66 Cabo Verde 51.00 2018
67 Japan 50.00 2018
67 Trinidad and Tobago 50.00 2018
67 Nicaragua 50.00 2018
70 Somalia 49.00 2018
70 São Tomé and Principe 49.00 2018
72 Dominican Republic 47.00 2018
72 France 47.00 2018
74 Congo 46.00 2018
74 Belize 46.00 2018
76 Azerbaijan 44.00 2018
77 Bhutan 43.00 2018
77 Hungary 43.00 2018
79 United Kingdom 42.00 2018
80 Rwanda 41.00 2018
81 Cambodia 37.00 2018
82 Germany 36.00 2018
83 Angola 34.00 2018
83 Malawi 34.00 2018
85 El Salvador 33.00 2018
86 Korea 31.00 2018
87 Guyana 30.00 2018
88 Suriname 27.00 2018
88 Namibia 27.00 2018
90 Syrian Arab Republic 26.00 2018
90 Central African Republic 26.00 2018
90 Czech Republic 26.00 2018
93 Slovak Republic 25.00 2018
94 Lebanon 24.00 2018
95 Bangladesh 23.00 2018
95 Israel 23.00 2018
95 Zambia 23.00 2018
98 Ukraine 22.00 2018
98 Uruguay 22.00 2018
98 Cayman Islands 22.00 2018
98 Algeria 22.00 2018
98 Cyprus 22.00 2018
103 New Zealand 21.00 2018
104 Paraguay 20.00 2018
104 Benin 20.00 2018
106 Canada 18.00 2018
106 Nepal 18.00 2018
108 Sudan 17.00 2018
108 Dem. People's Rep. Korea 17.00 2018
108 Austria 17.00 2018
111 Solomon Islands 16.00 2018
111 Uzbekistan 16.00 2018
113 Kazakhstan 14.00 2018
113 Senegal 14.00 2018
115 Kyrgyz Republic 13.00 2018
115 Togo 13.00 2018
115 Eswatini 13.00 2018
118 Tajikistan 12.00 2018
118 Pakistan 12.00 2018
118 Mali 12.00 2018
118 Dominica 12.00 2018
122 Poland 11.00 2018
123 Hong Kong SAR, China 10.00 2018
123 Norway 10.00 2018
123 Vanuatu 10.00 2018
126 Tunisia 9.00 2018
126 Comoros 9.00 2018
126 Bulgaria 9.00 2018
129 Jordan 8.00 2018
129 Egypt 8.00 2018
129 Croatia 8.00 2018
132 Romania 7.00 2018
132 Libya 7.00 2018
132 Iran 7.00 2018
132 St. Lucia 7.00 2018
132 The Bahamas 7.00 2018
132 Slovenia 7.00 2018
138 Chad 6.00 2018
138 St. Vincent and the Grenadines 6.00 2018
138 Oman 6.00 2018
138 Serbia 6.00 2018
138 The Gambia 6.00 2018
138 Guinea-Bissau 6.00 2018
138 Eritrea 6.00 2018
145 Afghanistan 5.00 2018
145 Tonga 5.00 2018
145 Sweden 5.00 2018
145 Palau 5.00 2018
149 Turkmenistan 4.00 2018
149 North Macedonia 4.00 2018
149 Lesotho 4.00 2018
149 Antigua and Barbuda 4.00 2018
149 Burkina Faso 4.00 2018
149 Albania 4.00 2018
149 Switzerland 4.00 2018
149 Niger 4.00 2018
149 Saudi Arabia 4.00 2018
149 Malta 4.00 2018
159 Montenegro 3.00 2018
159 Grenada 3.00 2018
159 Botswana 3.00 2018
159 Barbados 3.00 2018
159 Djibouti 3.00 2018
159 Ireland 3.00 2018
159 Bosnia and Herzegovina 3.00 2018
166 Moldova 2.00 2018
166 St. Kitts and Nevis 2.00 2018
166 Finland 2.00 2018
166 Iraq 2.00 2018
166 Samoa 2.00 2018
166 Timor-Leste 2.00 2018
172 Netherlands 1.00 2018
172 Greenland 1.00 2018
172 Denmark 1.00 2018
172 Lithuania 1.00 2018
172 Monaco 1.00 2018
172 Belarus 1.00 2018
178 Belgium 0.00 2018
178 United Arab Emirates 0.00 2018
178 Luxembourg 0.00 2018
178 Latvia 0.00 2018
178 Liechtenstein 0.00 2018
178 Iceland 0.00 2018
178 Andorra 0.00 2018
178 Bahrain 0.00 2018
178 Estonia 0.00 2018
178 Kiribati 0.00 2018
178 Kuwait 0.00 2018
178 Macao SAR, China 0.00 2018
178 Mongolia 0.00 2018
178 Mauritania 0.00 2018
178 Nauru 0.00 2018
178 Qatar 0.00 2018
178 San Marino 0.00 2018
178 Tuvalu 0.00 2018

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Development Relevance: The number of threatened species is an important measure of the immediate need for conservation in an area. Global analyses of the status of threatened species have been carried out for few groups of organisms. Only for mammals, birds, and amphibians has the status of virtually all known species been assessed. Threatened species are defined using the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) classification: endangered (in danger of extinction and unlikely to survive if causal factors continue operating) and vulnerable (likely to move into the endangered category in the near future if causal factors continue operating). The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species is widely recognized as the most comprehensive, objective global approach for evaluating the conservation status of plant and animal species. The IUCN guides conservation activities of governments, NGOs and scientific institutions. The IUCN draws on and mobilizes a network of scientists and partner organizations working in almost every country in the world, who collectively hold what is likely the most complete scientific knowledge base on the biology and conservation status of species. The plants and animals assessed for the IUCN Red List are the bearers of genetic diversity and the building blocks of ecosystems, and information on their conservation status and distribution provides the foundation for making informed decisions about conserving biodiversity from local to global levels. Only a small number of the world's plant and animal species have been assessed. In addition to the many thousands of species which have not yet been assessed so far, other species not included on the IUCN Red List are those that went extinct before 1500 AD and the "Least Concern" (plants that have been evaluated to have a low risk of extinction) species that have not yet been data based. Direct threats to species are the proximate human activities or processes that have impacted, are impacting, or may impact the status of the taxon being assessed (e.g., unsustainable fishing or logging). Direct threats are synonymous with sources of stress and proximate pressures. Threats can be past (historical, unlikely to return or historical, likely to return), ongoing, and/or likely to occur in the future.

Limitations and Exceptions: Reporting the proportion of threatened species on the Red List is complicated by the fact that not all species groups have been fully evaluated, and also by the fact that some species have so little information available that they can only be assessed as Data Deficient (DD). For many of the incompletely evaluated groups, assessment efforts have focused on species that are likely to be threatened; therefore any percentage of threatened species reported for these groups would be heavily biased (i.e., the percentage of threatened species would likely be an overestimate). Although there are over 12,000 plant species on the IUCN Red List, fewer than one thousand of these are properly documented. To help address this gap, IUCN is pursuing global assessments of plant species of value to people including species of high economic value. The conifer and cycad species already on the IUCN Red List need to be fully documented. IUCN is also developing a tool to assist with preliminary assessments of plant species. Since IUCN has evaluated extinction risk for less than 5 percent of the world's described species, IUCN cannot provide an overall estimate for how many of the planet's species are threatened. For those groups that have been comprehensively evaluated, the proportion of threatened species can be calculated, but the number of threatened species is often uncertain because it is not known whether Data Deficient species are actually threatened or not. Due to variations in consistency and methods of collection, data quality is highly variable across countries. Some countries update their information more frequently than others, some have more accurate data on extent of coverage, and many underreport the number or extent of protected areas. Also, because of differences in definitions, reporting practices, and reporting periods, cross-country comparability of threatened species is limited. In order to ensure global uniformity when describing the habitat in which a taxon (a taxonomic group of any rank) occurs, the threats to a taxon, what conservation actions are in place or are needed, and whether or not the taxon is utilized, a set of standard terms, called Classification Schemes, are being developed, for documenting taxonomy on the IUCN Red List.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: Species assessed as Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN) or Vulnerable (VU) are referred to as "threatened" species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species collects and disseminates information on the global threated species. Proportion of threatened species is only reported for the more completely evaluated groups (i.e., >90% of species evaluated). Also, the reported percentage of threatened species for each group is presented as a best estimate within a range of possible values bounded by lower and upper estimates: Lower estimate = % threatened extant species if all Data Deficient species are not threatened, i.e., (CR + EN + VU) / (total assessed - EX) Best estimate = % threatened extant species if Data Deficient species are equally threatened as data sufficient species, i.e., (CR + EN + VU) / (total assessed - EX - DD) Upper estimate = % threatened extant species if all Data Deficient species are threatened, i.e., (CR + EN + VU + DD) / (total assessed - EX) Additional information on ecology and habitat preferences, threats, and conservation action are also collated and assessed as part of Red List process.

Aggregation method: Sum

Periodicity: Annual