302 people died in tiger attacks in 5 years: Govt data

New Delhi: A total of 302 people died in tiger attacks in the country over the last five years with Maharashtra accounting for over 55 per cent of these deaths, according to official data.

The Centre has disbursed Rs 29.57 crore as compensation to the families of the victims.

While 112 people died in tiger attacks in 2022, 59 died in 2021, 51 in 2020, 49 in 2019 and 31 in 2018, the government told the Lok Sabha earlier this week.

During this period, Maharashtra alone recorded 170 such deaths -- 85 in 2022, 32 in 2021, 25 in 2020, 26 in 2019 and two in 2018.

Uttar Pradesh reported 39 deaths due to tiger attacks in the last five years -- 11 each in 2022 and 2021, four in 2020, eight in 2019 and five in 2018.

In West Bengal, 29 people died. However, this number has steadily decreased over the years, from 15 in 2018 to just one in 2022.

The data showed an increase in tiger attack-related deaths in Bihar -- zero in 2019, one in 2020, four in 2021 and nine in 2022.

The number of tigers in India increased from 2,967 in 2018 to 3,682 in 2022, an annual rise of 6 per cent, according to government data released in July this year.

With a 50 per cent increase in the last four years, Madhya Pradesh has the maximum number (785) of tigers in the country, followed by Karnataka (563), Uttarakhand (560), and Maharashtra (444).