ABUNDANCE
SWITZERLAND
To give an exact population estimate at a specific point in time is impossible. The camera trap monitoring cannot be performed in all management compartments at the same time. The abundance estimate presented here is an extrapolation of the latest camera trap session per reference area to the whole compartment based on chance observations (see also method section).
According to this estimate, 291 (+/- 10) independent (subadult and adult) lynx lived in Switzerland in 2021, 69 (+/- 5) of which in the Jura and 222 (+/- 9) in the Alps. Additionally – depending on the season – there are around 15-30 percent of that number in the population as young animals from the current year which are still together with their mother at the time of the monitoring. Juveniles are not counted for population estimates as they suffer very high mortality rates (only one in four reaches adulthood).
Development of the number of lynx in Switzerland from 2010 to 2021 © KORA Development of the number of lynx in Switzerland from 2010 to 2021 © KORA
EUROPE
In 2024, the LCIE estimated that there were 9400 Eurasian lynx in Europe. The estimated number of individuals in the 11 different populations is shown in the table below. The population in the Balkans is an endangered subspecies of its own.
| Population | Countries | Estimate | Trend |
| Scandinavian | NOR, SWE | 1820 | Increase |
| Karelian | FIN | 2483 | Stable |
| Baltic | EST, LTU, LVA, POL, UKR | 1555 | Increase |
| Carpathian | RO, SK, PL, UA, CZ, HU, RS, BG | 2687 | Increase |
| Bohemian-Bavarian-Austrian | CZE, DE, AUT | 135 | Increase |
| Alpine | CH, SI, IT, AT, FR | 255 | Increase |
| Jura | FR, CH | more than 69 | Slowly increasing |
| Vosges-Palatinian | FR, DE | more than 12 | Increase |
| Dinaric | SI, HR, BA | 130 | Stable or decrease |
| Harz | DE | 46 | Slowly increasing |
| Balkan | MKD, ALB, KOS | 34 | Stable |
| Pommerian Occurrence | POL | 31 | Increase |
| Black Forest / Swabian-Jura Occurrence | DE | 5 | Unknown |