As of 2018, the global grey wolf population was estimated at 200,000–250,000. More recent regional censuses provide updated figures: a 2022 assessment estimated at least 21,500 wolves in Europe, about 19,000 of them in the European Union, a 58% increase over the previous decade. Once abundant over much of North America and Eurasia, the grey wolf inhabits a smaller portion of its former range because of widespread human encroachment and destruction of its habitat, and the resulting human-wolf encounters that sparked broad extirpation. Wolf reintroduction programs have been instituted where there is suitable wilderness. Considered as a whole, however, the grey wolf is regarded as being of least concern for extinction according to the IUCN. Today, wolves are protected in some areas, hunted for sport in others, or may be subject to extermination as perceived threats to people, livestock, and pets.

Wolves tend to quickly adapt to change, and are often referred to as an indicator species; a species delineating an ecoregion or indicating an environmental condition such as a disease outbreak, pollution, species competition or climate change. Wolves do not seem to be able to adapt as readily to expanding civilization as the way coyotes do. While human expansion has seen an increase in coyote population, it has caused a drop in wolves.

Europe

Europe as of 2018 – excluding Russia, Belarus and Ukraine – has 17,000 wolves in over 28 countries.

An in-depth analysis of the situation of the wolf in the European Union was made in 2023 by J. C. Blanco and K. Sundseth.

As written in the document, there was a significant increase in wolf numbers in the EU between the previous assessment of the wolf, effectuated during 2013–2018, and the assessment done in 2023: "According to the latest conservation status assessment [...], covering the reporting period 2013-2018, the wolf was reported to be present in 21 EU countries. Its overall EU population at that time was estimated at around 11,000 - 17,000 wolves. [...] In 2023, wolves have been detected across all EU Member States except Ireland, Cyprus and Malta, and there are breeding packs in 23 countries. In this analysis, 20 300 wolves have been estimated in 2023 across the EU."

Information on the number of wolves in the European Union across time is given in the table below from the document: + Number of wolves in the European Union (from Blanco and Sundseth, 2023). Species Population/Year201220222023Grey Wolf11,19319,40020,300

Austria Austria's wolf population is increasing and is the home of 7 packs as of 2022.

The table below gives information on the size of the Austrian wolf population:

+ Number of wolves in Austria. Species Population/Year2013 - 20182022Grey Wolf29 - 3658

Portugal Portugal has a stable population of wolves distributed in 50 to 60 packs as of 2023.

Population numbers estimate across time is given from Blanco and Sundseth (2023) in the table below:

+ Number of wolves in Portugal. Species Population/Year2013 - 20182023Grey Wolf118300

The wolf in Portugal is afforded full protection. Compensation is paid for livestock damage.

Spain

Spain's wolf population is estimated at 2,000–3,000 and growing. Their population is concentrated in two autonomous communities: around 700 in Galicia and 1,600 in Castille and León.

Wolves are considered a game species, though they are protected in the southern regions of the country. In February 2021, a hunting ban was enacted in the rural North as well. Compensation is paid for livestock damage, though this varies according to region. The population is expanding southwards and eastwards from the northwest, having recently reached Madrid, Ávila, Guadalajara and Salamanca. A southern relict population has survived in Andalusia, although contrary to the populations in the northwest and center of the country, it is not doing well.

Italy

Italy's wolves are a protected species with current estimates indicating that there are approximately 3,300 wolves living in the wild. The largest concentrations of wolves occur in the Italian national parks in Abruzzo, mostly in the Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise, in Calabria, in the Pollino and Sila, on Appennino Tosco-Emiliano, and, more recently, on the Alps. Isolated individuals have been sighted in the vicinity of human populated areas such as Tuscany, Bologna, Parma and Tarquinia. Wolves have also been sighted denning 25 miles from Rome, with one small population living in the regional park of Castelli Romani. Currently, Italian wolf populations are said to have been increasing at a rate of 6% a year since the 1970s, though 15% of the total Italian wolf population is reported to succumb annually to illegal poaching and road accidents. Compensation is paid by regional governments for livestock damage. Italy's leading wolf biologist, professor Luigi Boitani of the Sapienza University of Rome, expressed concern that the Italian wolf recovery may have been too successful, due to a large portion of the public refusing to concede to the possibility of rising wolf populations requiring management in the future.

Wolves from Italy started to disperse and colonize (or re-colonize) many adjacent countries starting in the 1990s. Today, the Italian population can be found in Italy, France, Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, Liechtenstein and Germany.

France

Wolf recolonization of France started in the early 1990s, with some Italian wolves entering France in 1992.

Monitoring of wolves in France result from a large-scale national network of citizen scientists and scientists (over 4,000) who compile data on wolf incidence via many key observations (feces, sightings, carcass of prey, etc.) and transfer their finds to the coordinators of the 'Office de la Biodiversité' (OFB). This office, a public agency, is in charge of national monitoring and provides plentifully information on wolves. Alongside non-invasive studies, conducted since 1995, annual population estimates are available. The French wolf population at the end of the winter 2022/2023 consisted of an estimated 1,104 wolves, in 128 packs and a few other pairs. This is an increase of the population estimate of 926 to 1,096 wolves done by the OFB in 2021/2022.

Population numbers estimate across time is given from Blanco and Sundseth (2023) in the table below:

+ Number of wolves in France. Species Population/Year2013 - 20182023Gray Wolf387 - 4771,104

Under the Berne Convention, wolves are listed as an endangered species and killing them is illegal. Official culls are permitted to protect farm animals so long as there is no threat to the national population as a whole.

Germany

Germany's wolves were first spotted in 1998, and are thought to have migrated from western Poland.

In 2007, there were around 200 wolves in 36 packs roaming in Germany, most of them in the eastern German region of Lusatia. In July 2012, for the first time in 150 years, wolves were born in Heidekreis in Lower Saxony, which confirms the spread of wolves from the eastern part of Germany. In October 2014 Lower Saxony already had a wolf population of circa 50 animals: 5 packs, all with confirmed pups in 2014, 2 confirmed mated pairs and one territorial unpaired female. By August 2020 the number of packs in Lower Saxony had already risen to 35.

By 2020, Germany's total wolf population had grown to about 128 packs, most of them living in Brandenburg, Saxony and Lower Saxony. In these states, the density of wolves is higher than in Canada.

Between May 2022 and April 2023, 184 packs (of at least 8 wolves), 47 pairs and 22 loners were documented in Germany. Wolves are present in all 16 German states, including the city states of Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen, with the Saarland being the last state to confirm a wolf in September 2023. The gap to the wolf population in Eastern France is about to close.

Under German (and international) law wolves are a protected species; in several regions livestock damage compensation programs exist.

Belgium and Netherlands In Belgium and the Netherlands wolves were spotted in several locations in 2011. The different lone wolves came probably from the French or Italian populations. Since wildlife corridors and wildlife crossings over highways were created to connect wildlife areas in the Netherlands, such as the Veluwezoom National Park and the Oostvaardersplassen with the Klever Reichswald in Germany, nature conservation organisations expected wolves to migrate to the low countries in the near future. In 2018, a wolf was recorded in Flanders, Belgium for the first time in over a century. The wolf's radio collar showed that it had come from Germany through the Netherlands, and that it had covered 500 km in just 10 days. In 2022, there were an estimated 15 wolves in four wolf packs living in the Netherlands. As of 2022, Belgium was home to at least 9 wolves in two packs.

Population numbers estimate across time is given from Blanco and Sundseth (2023) in the table below:

+ Estimated number of wolves in Belgium and the Netherlands. Country/Year2013 - 2018September 2023Belgium4 - 628Netherlands063

Luxembourg In 2020, DNA analysis of sheep killed in Luxembourg confirmed presence of wolves in the country after over a century.

Switzerland The first wolf returned to Switzerland in 1995. In 2012, the first pack was established in the canton of Grisons. By January 2023, the number of packs has grown to 18 Swiss and 5 cross-border packs. Swiss authorities gave permission to shoot 42 wolves between the years 2000 and 2022.

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein has reported one wolf, possibly dispersing from Switzerland.

Norway

Norway's wolf population is located in the south-east, close to the Swedish border, and consists of around 100 wolves (roughly a third of which cross the border into Sweden).

According to an estimate made in the winter of 2022/2023, Norway was home to 9 wolf packs (6 of them being shared with Sweden) and 7 territorials pairs (3 of them being shared with Sweden).

Wolves are hunted in Norway and the Norwegian Parliament approved an amendment in June 2020 that further reduced protections for wolves.

Sweden

The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency estimated there were between 289 and 474 in Sweden in the winter of 2019–2020, which is an increase. Wolves are hunted in Sweden, with an aim to keep a sustainable population. The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency states that a minimum of 300 wolves is necessary in order to keep a genetic diversity that ensures long-term sustainability. A total of 24 wolves are planned to be killed by hunters during the winter of 2020–2021, in the regions of Värmland, Örebro, Västmanland and Gävleborg.

Estimates made during the winter of 2022/2023 recorded 49 packs in Sweden and Norway, with 40 packs solely in Sweden. The population of wolves in the country was estimated at 450 wolves for that winter.

Denmark