Trends and Indicators

The main PECBMS goal is to use common birds as indicators of the general state of nature using scientific data on changes in European breeding populations.

The European Commission has supported the production of European bird species trends and indicators since January 2006.

Bird species indices and trends

PECBMS combines national species indices in supra-national indices for individual species for Europe, the EU, and their regions (New and Old EU, West, South, North, and Central & East Europe). All indices are annually updated, but only European species indices and trends are published – see the latest 2024 update. We did not update the species indices and trends in 2020.

Wild Bird Indices (multi-species composite indices, indicators)

PECBMS produces indicators for Europe, the EU, and their regions (New and Old EU, and West, South, North, and Central & East Europe) for farmland, forest, and all birds. All indicators are annually updated and published – see the latest 2024 update.

National indicators

Many European bird monitoring schemes produce their own national wild bird indicators. Some of them are also used as official indicators in the country. See the overview of the production of national common bird indicators and their use in Europe.