Celebrating World Rhino Day 2025

White Rhino

The International Rhino Foundation (IRF) has released the 2025 State of the Rhino report. The annual report documents current population estimates and trends, along with key challenges and conservation developments for the five surviving rhino species in Africa and Asia.

This year’s report details threats from poaching and the illegal horn trade while focusing attention on upcoming rhino conservation and policy opportunities as we celebrate World Rhino Day on September 22. 

The 2025 State of the Rhino report also includes comprehensive recommendations from IRF for rhino range states and the international community to help ensure rhinos survive and, hopefully, thrive well into the future.

State of the Rhino

Here are some highlights from the report:

  • 2025 is a major year for rhino policy, as rhinos will be a focus of two international wildlife conservation events this year — the CITES CoP20 and the World Conservation Congress. 
  • Carvings and decorative trinkets are now the top demand drivers for rhino horn, surpassing traditional medicine uses. 
  • IRF is funding new technology to help track rhinos whose horns have been trimmed to deter poaching. This new technology is potentially an exciting new rhino monitoring tool.

The 2025 edition of State of the Rhino brings both hope and heartbreak. For 50 million years, rhinos have roamed our planet. Today, fewer than 27,000 remain in the wild. Four of the five species are threatened with extinction and three are Critically Endangered.

While the threats are dire, we’re fighting back. Thanks to successful conservation efforts and strong law enforcement, greater one-horned and black rhino numbers have increased. 

Thanks to the unwavering support of our donors and all of Team Rhino, IRF is working with our partners on the ground to ensure future generations inherit a world where rhinos still roam free. 

With ranger patrols, new technology, community-led habitat management and international cooperation to identify and dismantle wildlife crime networks, the global community can save these important ecosystem engineers.