A total of 302 people have been killed in tiger attacks in the country over the last five years, the data stated, while 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).

Meanwhile, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) data has revealed that there have been 145 tiger deaths in the first nine months of this year, the highest number in the past three years. In 2022, there were 116 tiger deaths, 127 in 2021, and 106 in 2020. Madhya Pradesh recorded the highest tiger deaths followed by Maharashtra and Uttarakhand. India is home to nearly 75 per cent of the global wild tiger population.

According to data from the NTCA, Madhya Pradesh saw 34 tiger fatalities. Following closely, Maharashtra recorded 32 tiger deaths, while Uttarakhand reported 17 tiger fatalities. Karnataka and Tamil Nadu had 9 and 14 tiger deaths, respectively, while Kerala had 12. Assam reported 10, Rajasthan 5, and Uttar Pradesh and Bihar had 5 and 3 tiger deaths, respectively. The lowest number of tiger deaths were observed in Odisha and Chhattisgarh, each with 2 deaths