What are the 7 categories of the IUCN Red List?

The IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria have several specific aims:

• To provide a system that can be applied consistently by different people
• To improve objectivity by providing users with clear guidance on how to evaluate different factors which affect the risk of extinction
• To provide a system that will facilitate comparisons across widely different taxa
• To give people using threatened species lists a better understanding of how individual species were classified

The 7 categories of IUCN Red List are as follows:

1. Extinct
2. Extinct in the Wild
3. Critically Endangered
4. Endangered
5. Vulnerable
6. Near Threatened
7. Least Concerned

Further Reading:

• IUCN Red List
• International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)