Counting precisely the number of wolves present on a territory is impossible on account of their discretion and their abilities to move. All the given data are therefore estimates one has to consider cautiously.

Wolves are potentially present in almost all the Northern hemisphere, except in North Africa.

After having been practically exterminated in the United States, wolves were integrally protected in 1973 (except in Alaska). Since then, wolves have started to recolonize the American territory from the remaining populations in Minnesota and Michigan. After decreasing from 400,000 individuals in the XVIIIth century to less than 1,000 in 1960 in all the United States (Alaska left aside), about 3,000 wolves are counted nowadays.

In the ex USSR countries, it is extremely difficult to estimate the populations due to the size of the territories and the lack of resources allotted to the plans of follow-up. There may be between 100,000 and 200,000 wolves on this huge space but these numbers remain very theoretical and approximate.

In North-East Asia, the state of knowledge is also very partial but seems to suggest that the populations are in decline, except perhaps for China where wolves benefited from the ban on firearms and traps and where the ovine livestock is expanding.

In India, despite their being protected since 1972, the situation of 2 subspecies (pallipes and chanco) is really difficult to evaluate and certainly variable depending on the region: in some places, wolves are well-thought-of as they feed on buffalos, which devastate the cultivated lands whereas in the high mountains, they are hunted by shepherds as they attack yaks, sheep and goats.

In the Middle East, two subspecies were identified: arabs and pallipes. As wolves do not benefit from protection in most of these countries, the whole population rather seem in decline, even though the data of follow-ups are often partial, or even non-existent.