• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic source(s)
AERC TAC. 2003. AERC TAC Checklist of bird taxa occurring in Western Palearctic region, 15th Draft. Available at: http://www.aerc.eu/DOCS/Bird_taxa_of_the_WP15.xls.
Christidis, L. and Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
Cramp, S. and Simmons, K.E.L. (eds). 1977-1994. Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The birds of the western Palearctic. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A., Fishpool, L.D.C., Boesman, P. and Kirwan, G.M. 2016. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 2: Passerines. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
SACC. 2005 and updates. A classification of the bird species of South America. Available at: https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2019	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	20 g

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	251,000,000 km2	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	271,000,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	290000000-487000000 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2016
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	3.9 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The European population is estimated at 29-48.7 million pairs, which equates to 58-97.4 million mature individuals (BirdLife International 2015). Europe forms approximately 20% of the global range, so a very preliminary estimate of the global population size is 290-487 million mature individuals, although further validation of this estimate is needed. National population estimates include: 10,000-1 million breeding pairs and >1,000 individuals on migration in China; 10,000-100,000 breeding pairs, >10,000 individuals on migration and <50 wintering individuals in Taiwan; 10,000-1 million breeding pairs and >1,000 individuals on migration in Korea; 10,000-1 million breeding pairs, >1,000 individuals on migration and 50-1,000 wintering individuals in Japan, as well as 10,000-100,000 breeding pairs and 1,000-10,000 individuals on migration in Russia (Brazil 2009).

Trend justification: In North America, this species has undergone a small decline over the last 50 years (44% decline between 1966 and 2015 based on the North American Breeding Bird Survey [Sauer et al. 2017], or 38% decline between 1970 and 2014 based on Partners in Flight [A. Panjabi in litt. 2017]). Recent trends, however, show a more rapid, significant decline of 10.5% over the last three generations in North America (Sauer et al. 2017). According to EBCC (2018), the European population has undergone a moderate decline between 1980 and 2015. BirdLife International (2015) estimated the European population to be decreasing by less than 25% in three generations (11.7 years). Therefore overall, the global population is tentatively assessed as being in decline.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Afghanistan	extant	native		yes
Albania	extant	native		yes
Algeria	extant	native
Andorra	extant	native		yes
Angola	extant	native
Anguilla (to UK)	extant	native
Antarctica	extant	vagrant
Antigua and Barbuda	extant	native
Argentina	extant	native
Armenia	extant	native		yes
Aruba (to Netherlands)	extant	native
Australia	extant	native
Austria	extant	native		yes
Azerbaijan	extant	native		yes
Bahamas	extant	native
Bahrain	extant	native		yes		yes
Bangladesh	extant	native
Barbados	extant	native
Belarus	extant	native		yes
Belgium	extant	native		yes
Belize	extant	native			yes	yes
Benin	extant	native
Bermuda (to UK)	extant	native
Bhutan	extant	native		yes
Bolivia	extant	native
Bosnia and Herzegovina	extant	native		yes
Botswana	extant	native
Brazil	extant	native
British Indian Ocean Territory	extant	native
Brunei	extant	native
Bulgaria	extant	native		yes		yes
Burkina Faso	extant	native
Burundi	extant	native
Cambodia	extant	native
Cameroon	extant	native
Canada	extant	native				yes
Cape Verde	extant	native
Cayman Islands (to UK)	extant	native
Central African Republic	extant	native
Chad	extant	native
Chile	extant	native
China (mainland)	extant	native		yes
Christmas Island (to Australia)	extant	native
Cocos (Keeling) Islands (to Australia)	extant	vagrant
Colombia	extant	native
Comoros	extant	native
Congo	extant	native
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	extant	native
Costa Rica	extant	native			yes
Côte d'Ivoire	extant	native
Croatia	extant	native		yes
Cuba	extant	native
Cyprus	extant	native		yes
Czechia	extant	native		yes
Denmark	extant	native		yes		yes
Djibouti	extant	native
Dominica	extant	native
Dominican Republic	extant	native
Ecuador	extant	native
Egypt	extant	native
El Salvador	extant	native
Equatorial Guinea	extant	native
Eritrea	extant	native
Estonia	extant	native		yes
Eswatini	extant	native
Ethiopia	extant	native
Falkland Islands (Malvinas)	extant	native
Faroe Islands (to Denmark)	extant	native		yes
Finland	extant	native		yes		yes
France	extant	native		yes		yes
French Guiana	extant	native
Gabon	extant	native
Gambia	extant	native
Georgia	extant	native		yes
Germany	extant	native		yes		yes
Ghana	extant	native
Gibraltar (to UK)	extant	native		yes
Greece	extant	native		yes		yes
Greenland (to Denmark)	extant	vagrant
Grenada	extant	native
Guadeloupe (to France)	extant	native				yes
Guam (to USA)	extant	native			yes
Guatemala	extant	native
Guinea	extant	native
Guinea-Bissau	extant	native
Guyana	extant	native
Haiti	extant	native
Honduras	extant	native
Hong Kong (China)	extant	native
Hungary	extant	native		yes
Iceland	extant	native		yes
India	extant	native		yes
Indonesia	extant	native
Iran, Islamic Republic of	extant	native	yes			yes
Iraq	extant	native		yes		yes
Ireland	extant	native		yes
Israel	extant	native		yes
Italy	extant	native	yes			yes
Jamaica	extant	native			yes
Japan	extant	native		yes
Jordan	extant	native	yes			yes
Kazakhstan	extant	native		yes
Kenya	extant	native
Kuwait	extant	native			yes	yes
Kyrgyzstan	extant	native		yes
Laos	extant	native
Latvia	extant	native		yes
Lebanon	extant	native	yes			yes
Lesotho	extant	native
Liberia	extant	native
Libya	extant	native
Liechtenstein	extant	native		yes
Lithuania	extant	native		yes
Luxembourg	extant	native		yes
Macao (China)	extant	native
Madagascar	extant	native
Malawi	extant	native
Malaysia	extant	native
Maldives	extant	native
Mali	extant	native
Malta	extant	native		yes
Marshall Islands	extant	native			yes
Martinique (to France)	extant	native
Mauritania	extant	native
Mayotte (to France)	extant	native
Mexico	extant	native
Micronesia, Federated States of	extant	native			yes
Moldova	extant	native		yes
Mongolia	extant	native		yes
Montenegro	extant	native		yes
Montserrat (to UK)	extant	native
Morocco	extant	native
Mozambique	extant	native
Myanmar	extant	native
Namibia	extant	native
Nepal	extant	native		yes
Netherlands	extant	native		yes
Nicaragua	extant	native				yes
Niger	extant	native
Nigeria	extant	native
North Korea	extant	native		yes
North Macedonia	extant	native		yes
Northern Mariana Islands (to USA)	extant	native			yes
Norway	extant	native		yes
Oman	extant	native			yes	yes
Pakistan	extant	native		yes
Palau	extant	native			yes
Palestine	extant	native				yes
Panama	extant	native
Paraguay	extant	native
Peru	extant	native
Philippines	extant	native
Poland	extant	native		yes
Portugal	extant	native	yes
Puerto Rico (to USA)	extant	native
Qatar	extant	native				yes
Romania	extant	native		yes
Russia	extant	native		yes
Russia (Asian)	extant	native		yes
Russia (Central Asian)	extant	native		yes
Russia (European)	extant	native		yes
Rwanda	extant	native
São Tomé e Príncipe	extant	native
Saudi Arabia	extant	native			yes	yes
Senegal	extant	native
Serbia	extant	native		yes
Seychelles	extant	native
Sierra Leone	extant	native
Singapore	extant	native
Slovakia	extant	native		yes
Slovenia	extant	native		yes		yes
Somalia	extant	native
South Africa	extant	native
South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands	extant	native
South Korea	extant	native		yes
South Sudan	extant	native				yes
Spain	extant	native	yes			yes
Sri Lanka	extant	native
St Barthelemy (to France)	extant	native
St Helena (to UK)	extant	vagrant
St Kitts and Nevis	extant	native
St Lucia	extant	native
St Pierre and Miquelon (to France)	extant	native		yes		yes
St Vincent and the Grenadines	extant	native
Sudan	extant	native
Suriname	extant	native
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (to Norway)	extant	vagrant
Sweden	extant	native		yes
Switzerland	extant	native		yes
Syria	extant	native	yes			yes
Taiwan, China	extant	native		yes
Tajikistan	extant	native		yes
Tanzania	extant	native
Thailand	extant	native
Timor-Leste	extant	native			yes	yes
Togo	extant	native
Trinidad and Tobago	extant	native
Tunisia	extant	native
Türkiye	extant	native		yes
Turkmenistan	extant	native		yes
Turks and Caicos Islands (to UK)	extant	native
Uganda	extant	native
Ukraine	extant	native		yes		yes
United Arab Emirates	extant	native			yes	yes
United Kingdom	extant	native		yes
United States Minor Outlying Islands (to USA)	extant	native				yes
Uruguay	extant	native			yes
USA	extant	native		yes
Uzbekistan	extant	native		yes
Venezuela	extant	native
Vietnam	extant	native		yes
Virgin Islands (to UK)	extant	native			yes
Virgin Islands (to USA)	extant	native			yes
Western Sahara	extant	native
Yemen	extant	native			yes	yes
Zambia	extant	native
Zimbabwe	extant	native

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Botswana	Okavango Delta
Czechia	Krivoklatsko (Krivoklatsko region)
Nigeria	Ebok-Kabaken
South Africa	Mount Moreland
Spain	Mountains of Barcelona

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Canals and Drainage Channels, Ditches	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Pastureland	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Pastureland	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Urban Areas	suitable	breeding
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	non-breeding
Grassland	Temperate	suitable	breeding
Savanna	Dry	suitable	non-breeding
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls)	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Seasonal/Intermittent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	suitable	breeding
Altitude	0 - 3000 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Livestock farming & ranching - Agro-industry grazing, ranching or farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion, Reduced reproductive success
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species mortality
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Persecution/control	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality
Climate change & severe weather	Temperature extremes	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Passer domesticus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality
Natural system modifications	Dams & water management/use - Abstraction of surface water (agricultural use)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Indirect ecosystem effects, Ecosystem degradation
Pollution	Agricultural & forestry effluents - Herbicides and pesticides	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Indirect ecosystem effects

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international
Sport hunting/specimen collecting	subsistence, national

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/barn-swallow-hirundo-rustica on 22/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 22/12/2024.