European Indicators

Accompanying text of the update and a set of main Wild Bird Indices for Europe and the EU, which are freely available for download as Excel sheets, are presented here.

Since January 2006, the European Commission has supported the production of European bird indicators.

If you wish to use the PECBMS outputs, we recommend reading the rules stated in the Data Access And Co-authorship Policy.

In 2024, we decided to change PECBMS terminology in some terms as follows:
The updated names of the PECBMS indicators align with official CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity) terms used by BirdLife, the European Commission, and national and international policies. We also use the term ‘indicator’, but this applies to all the indicators we present in general.

Wild Bird Indices (so far, Common bird indicators)
All Bird Index (so far, All common birds)
Farmland Bird Index (so far, Common farmland birds)
Forest Bird Index (so far, Common forest birds)

Confidence limits may be shown only if the option All data in one graph is set to no.

Forest Bird Index, Europe, 1980-2023

Trend of species contributing to the indicator:

  • Moderate decline 15
  • Moderate increase 13
  • Stable 5
  • Steep decline 0
  • Strong increase 0
  • Uncertain 1

Forest Bird Index, Europe

Species Base year Trend classification
Accipiter nisus 1980 Stable
Anthus trivialis 1980 Moderate decline
Bombycilla garrulus 1988 Moderate increase
Carduelis citrinella 2002 Moderate decline
Certhia brachydactyla 1982 Moderate increase
Certhia familiaris 1980 Moderate decline
Coccothraustes coccothraustes 1980 Stable
Columba oenas 1980 Moderate increase
Cyanopica cooki 1998 Moderate increase
Dryobates minor 1980 Uncertain
Dryocopus martius 1980 Moderate increase
Emberiza rustica 1980 Moderate decline
Ficedula albicollis 1982 Moderate increase
Ficedula hypoleuca 1980 Moderate decline
Garrulus glandarius 1980 Moderate increase
Leiopicus medius 1989 Moderate increase
Lophophanes cristatus 1980 Moderate decline
Nucifraga caryocatactes 1982 Stable
Periparus ater 1980 Moderate decline
Phoenicurus phoenicurus 1980 Moderate increase
Phylloscopus bonelli 1989 Moderate increase
Phylloscopus collybita 1980 Moderate increase
Phylloscopus sibilatrix 1980 Moderate decline
Picus canus 1989 Stable
Poecile montanus 1980 Moderate decline
Poecile palustris 1980 Moderate decline
Pyrrhula pyrrhula 1980 Moderate decline
Regulus ignicapilla 1982 Moderate increase
Regulus regulus 1980 Moderate decline
Sitta europaea 1980 Moderate increase
Spinus spinus 1980 Moderate decline
Tetrastes bonasia 1980 Moderate decline
Tringa ochropus 1980 Stable
Turdus viscivorus 1980 Moderate decline

Forest Bird Index, Europe

Countries
Andorra
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Czechia
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Republic of Ireland
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom

Source of the data: EBCC/BirdLife/RSPB/CSO

Wild Bird Indices, Europe

Indicator Region Time period No. of species Trend (%)a)
Europe 1980-2023 168 -18
Europe 1980-2023 39 -60
Europe 1980-2023 34 -8

Wild Bird Indices, EU

Indicator Region Time period No. of species Trend (%)a)
EU 1980-2023 168 -17
EU 1980-2023 39 -56
EU 1980-2023 34 -5
New EU 1982-2023 29 -51
Old EU 1980-2023 39 -53

Regional Wild Bird Indices

Indicator Region Time period No. of species Trend (%)a)
Central & East Europe 1982-2023 23 -33
Central & East Europe 1982-2023 27 -14
North Europe 1980-2023 14 -42
North Europe 1980-2023 24 -17
South Europe 1989-2023 37 -47
South Europe 1989-2023 25 -32
West Europe 1980-2023 22 -52
West Europe 1980-2023 29 5