What is the population of kangaroos in Australia?

Answer 1

There are millions of kangaroos in Australia. They are a very common sight in the outback, bushland and even the fringes of some settlements.

Kangaroo populations vary widely from year to year in Australia. For example, due to drought conditions, Red kangaroo numbers in NSW dropped from 500,000 in 2002 to 110,000 in 2005.

2007 figures for the kangaroo and wallaroo/euro populations in Australia estimated there were 24,008,610 members of both species in NSW, Qld, South Australia and Western Australia. Figures for Tasmania, Northern Territory and Victoria are not included.

These figures do not take into account all the smaller members of the kangaroo family, including wallaroos, all the species of wallabies, quokkas, rufous rat-kangaroos and pademelons right down to the tiny desert-dwelling musky rat kangaroos.

Answer 2

Population figures for different species of kangaroos in New South Wales in 2010 were:

• Red Kangaroo - 3,013,908
• Western grey Kangaroo - 662,982
• eastern grey kangaroo - 4,756,792
• Wallaroo - 88,430

This gives a total of 8,522,112 for the larger kangaroo species. It does not include the numerous wallaby species, as well as the potoroos, rat-kangaroos and pademelons.

See the related link below for the source of these figures.

Answer 3

It is not known exactly how many kangaroos there are in Australia in any given year. Bear in mind that the term "kangaroo" includes some 60 or more species. Also, kangaroo populations vary widely from year to year in Australia, due entirely to whether the regions are in a flood year or a drought year.

Figures across the entire continent of Australia are not available, and figures for 2012 are not yet available. 2011 figures are available for New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia. In 2011, across these four states alone, there were approximately 11.514 million red kangaroos, 2.348 million western grey kangaroos, 16.057 million eastern grey kangaroos and 4.383 million wallaroos. This is a grand total of over 34 million kangaroos. Figures for Tasmania, Northern Territory and Victoria are not included. These figures do not take into account all the smaller members of the kangaroo family, including wallaroos, all the species of wallabies, quokkas, rufous rat-kangaroos and pademelons right down to the tiny desert-dwelling musky rat kangaroos.