How many kangaroos are there in the wild?

It is not known how many kangaroos have been introduced to other parts of the world. The term "kangaroo" includes some 60 or more species, including the tree kangaroos in New Guinea, and the wallaby which has been introduced to New Zealand.

There are millions of kangaroos just in Australia. They are a very common sight in the outback, bushland and even the fringes of some settlements.

Kangaroo populations vary widely from year to year in Australia, due entirely to whether the regions are in a flood year or a drought year. Figures across the entire continent of Australia are not available. Some figures are available for New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia. In 2011, across these four states alone, there were approximately 11.514 million red kangaroos, 2.348 million western grey kangaroos, 16.057 million eastern grey kangaroos and 4.383 million wallaroos. This is a grand total of over 34 million kangaroos. Figures for Tasmania, Northern Territory and Victoria are not included.

These figures do not take into account all the smaller members of the kangaroo family, including wallaroos, all the species of wallabies, quokkas, rufous rat-kangaroos and pademelons right down to the tiny desert-dwelling musky rat kangaroos.