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

Taxonomic note

Carduelis carduelis and C. caniceps (del Hoyo and Collar 2016) were previously lumped as C. carduelis following AERC TAC (2003); AOU (1998 & supplements); Christidis & Boles (2008); Cramp et al. (1977-1994); SACC (2005 & updates); Sibley & Monroe (1990, 1993); Turbott (1990).

Taxonomic source(s)
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.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2019	Least Concern
2018	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2012	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	low
Land-mass type		Average mass	16 g

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	26,600,000 km2	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	25,100,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	101000000-155000000 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2015
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	4.2 years	-	-	-

Population justification: In Europe, the breeding population is estimated to number 27.8-42.7 million pairs, which equates to 55.7-85.5 million mature individuals (BirdLife International 2015). Europe forms c.55% of the global range, so a very preliminary estimate of the global population size is 101-155 million mature individuals, although further validation of this estimate is needed.

Trend justification: In Europe, the population has undergone a moderate increase between 1980 and 2013 (EBCC 2018). However, the species is in rapid decline in North Africa where poaching for the cagebird trade has been increasing rapidly since the 1990s (E. de Juana in litt. 2017, A. Ngari in litt. 2017). By now, the species has disappeared from >50% of its range in North Africa (Khelifa et al. 2017). Therefore globally, the species is 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
Argentina	extant	introduced
Armenia	extant	native		yes
Australia	extant	introduced		yes
Austria	extant	native	yes
Azerbaijan	extant	native	yes
Bahrain	extant	vagrant			yes
Belarus	extant	native	yes
Belgium	extant	native	yes
Bermuda (to UK)	extant	introduced		yes
Bosnia and Herzegovina	extant	native		yes
Brazil	extant	introduced	yes
Bulgaria	extant	native	yes
Cape Verde	extant	introduced	yes
Croatia	extant	native	yes
Cyprus	extant	native	yes
Czechia	extant	native	yes
Denmark	extant	native	yes			yes
Egypt	extant	native
Estonia	extant	native	yes
Faroe Islands (to Denmark)	extant	native
Finland	extant	native	yes			yes
France	extant	native	yes			yes
Georgia	extant	native		yes
Germany	extant	native	yes			yes
Gibraltar (to UK)	extant	native			yes
Greece	extant	native	yes			yes
Hungary	extant	native	yes
Iran, Islamic Republic of	extant	native	yes
Iraq	extant	native	yes
Ireland	extant	native	yes
Israel	extant	native		yes
Italy	extant	native	yes
Jordan	extant	native	yes
Kuwait	extant	native			yes
Latvia	extant	native	yes
Lebanon	extant	native	yes			yes
Libya	extant	native
Liechtenstein	extant	native		yes
Lithuania	extant	native	yes
Luxembourg	extant	native	yes
Malta	extant	native			yes
Moldova	extant	native	yes
Mongolia	extant	native		yes
Montenegro	extant	native		yes
Morocco	extant	native
Netherlands	extant	native	yes
New Zealand	extant	introduced		yes
North Macedonia	extant	native	yes
Norway	extant	native		yes
Oman	extant	vagrant				yes
Palestine	extant	native
Poland	extant	native		yes
Portugal	extant	native	yes
Romania	extant	native	yes
Russia	extant	native	yes	yes
Russia (Central Asian)	extant	native		yes
Russia (European)	extant	native	yes
Saudi Arabia	extant	native			yes
Serbia	extant	native		yes
Slovakia	extant	native	yes
Slovenia	extant	native	yes
Spain	extant	native	yes
Sweden	extant	native	yes
Switzerland	extant	native	yes
Syria	extant	native	yes
Tunisia	extant	native
Türkiye	extant	native	yes
Turkmenistan	extant	native		yes
Ukraine	extant	native	yes			yes
United Arab Emirates	extant	native			yes
United Kingdom	extant	native	yes
Uruguay	extant	introduced		yes
USA	possibly extinct	introduced		yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
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	Plantations	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Plantations	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Urban Areas	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Urban Areas	suitable	non-breeding
Forest	Temperate	suitable	breeding
Forest	Temperate	suitable	non-breeding
Grassland	Temperate	suitable	breeding
Grassland	Temperate	suitable	non-breeding
Shrubland	Mediterranean-type Shrubby Vegetation	suitable	breeding
Shrubland	Mediterranean-type Shrubby Vegetation	suitable	non-breeding
Shrubland	Temperate	suitable	breeding
Shrubland	Temperate	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls)	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls)	suitable	non-breeding
Altitude	0 - 4200 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Rapid Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Unintentional effects (species is not the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Rapid Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality

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

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: European Goldfinch Carduelis carduelis. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/european-goldfinch-carduelis-carduelis 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.