What Countries do Leopards Live In?
Of all the big cats, leopards have the largest geographic range, spanning 62 countries across Africa and Eurasia. They are present in the wild in over 70 countries across Africa, Eurasia, and the Indian subcontinent, though their populations have dwindled significantly in many regions. Scientists recognize eight subspecies — the African, Amur, Arabian, Indian, Indochinese, Javan, Persian, and Sri Lankan leopard — each adapted to different environments and facing unique conservation pressures. Despite their adaptability, leopards have become extinct in Zanzibar and are increasingly rare across parts of sub-Saharan and northern Africa, with extinction considered quite likely in some nations like Egypt.
Here is a country-by-country breakdown of where leopards are currently known or believed to exist in the wild:
Africa
- Angola
- Benin
- Botswana
- Burkina Faso
- Cameroon
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Congo (Republic of)
- Democratic Republic of Congo
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Eswatini
- Ethiopia
- Gabon
- Ghana
- Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire)
- Kenya
- Lesotho
- Liberia
- Malawi
- Mali
- Mauritania
- Morocco
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Rwanda
- Senegal
- Sierra Leone
- Somalia
- South Africa
- South Sudan
- Sudan
- Tanzania
- Togo
- Uganda
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
Middle East & Arabian Peninsula
- Oman
- Saudi Arabia
- Yemen
Central & South Asia
- Afghanistan
- Armenia
- Azerbaijan
- Bhutan
- India
- Iran
- Iraq
- Nepal
- Oman
- Pakistan
- Turkmenistan
- Turkey
East & Southeast Asia
- China
- Indonesia (Java)
- Malaysia
- Myanmar
- North Korea
- Russia (Far East)
- Sri Lanka
- Thailand
A few notes on this list: several countries — including Algeria, Burundi, Djibouti, Egypt, Gambia, and Libya — are listed as having populations that are possibly extinct. The Amur leopard, found along the Russian-Chinese border, is critically endangered; as of 2023, the population was thought to comprise around 128–130 sub-adult and adult individuals. And the Sri Lankan leopard, the only subspecies found on the island of Sri Lanka, used to range throughout the island but now is restricted to uninhabited areas in the south-east, central, and north-western regions.