Total population size
- Approximately 3,140 mature individuals (Emslie 2020a)
- Most wild black rhinos are conserved in 4 states
- South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Kenya conserve 96% of remaining wild population
Populations by subspecies
- D. b. bicornis (southwestern black rhino)
- About 1,330 mature individuals (Emslie 2020b)
- D. b. michaeli (eastern black rhino)
- About 580 mature individuals (Emslie 2020c)
- D. b. minor (southeastern black rhino)
- About 1,230 individuals (Emslie 2020d)
- D. b. longipes (western black rhino)
- No individuals remaining by 2006 (Emslie 2020e)
Historical population size
- Most most numerous of all rhino species through much of 20th century
- Hunting, land clearance, and poaching reduced to a few thousand
- History of decline
- 1800s-1900s: as many as 850,000; fairly continuous throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa
- 1970: 65,000 in small, scattered, isolated populations
- 1990: 3,800
- 1995: 2,410 (low point) - 98% decline since 1960 due to large-scale poaching
- 1999: 2, 700 - slight increase
- 2001: 3,100 - slight increase
- 2010: 4,880 (latest estimate) - steady increase over past 15 years