LC
House Sparrow Passer domesticus



Taxonomy

Taxonomic note
Passer domesticus and P. italiae (del Hoyo and Collar 2016) were previously lumped as P. domesticus following AERC TAC (2003); AOU (1998 and supplements); Christidis and Boles (2008); Cramp et al. (1977-1994); Dowsett and Forbes-Watson (1993); SACC (2005 and updates); Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993); Stotz et al. (1996); 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.

IUCN Red List criteria met and history
Red List criteria met
Critically Endangered Endangered Vulnerable
- - -

Red List history
Year Category Criteria
2016 Least Concern
2012 Not Recognised
2008 Not Recognised
2004 Not Recognised
2000 Not Recognised
1994 Not Recognised
1988 Not Recognised
Species attributes

Migratory status not a migrant Forest dependency low
Land-mass type Average mass 24 g
Range

Estimate Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident) 68,500,000 km2 medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding) 75,200,000 km2 medium
Severely fragmented? no -
Population
Estimate Data quality Derivation Year of estimate
Population size 896000000-1310000000 mature individuals poor estimated 2012
Population trend decreasing - suspected -
Generation length 6 years - - -

Population justification: Rich et al. (2004) estimated the global population at > c.540,000,000 individuals. However, the European population is estimated at 134,000,000-196,000,000 pairs, which equates to 269,000,000-392,000,000 mature individuals (BirdLife International 2015). Europe forms approximately 30% of the global range, so a very preliminary estimate of the global population size is 896,000,000-1,310,000,000 mature individuals, although further validation of this estimate is needed. National population sizes have been estimated at c.100-100,000 breeding pairs in China and c.100-100,000 breeding pairs in Russia (Brazil 2009).

Trend justification: In Europe, trends between 1980 and 2013 show that populations have undergone a moderate decline (EBCC 2015).


Country/territory distribution
Country/Territory Presence Origin Resident Breeding visitor Non-breeding visitor Passage migrant
Afghanistan extant native yes
Albania extant native yes
Algeria extant native yes
Andorra extant native yes
Anguilla (to UK) extant introduced yes
Argentina extant introduced yes
Armenia extant native yes
Aruba (to Netherlands) extant introduced yes
Australia extant introduced yes
Austria extant native yes
Azerbaijan extant native yes
Bahamas extant introduced yes
Bahrain extant native yes
Belarus extant native yes
Belgium extant native yes
Belize extant introduced yes
Bermuda (to UK) extant introduced yes
Bhutan extant native yes
Bolivia extant introduced yes
Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba (to Netherlands) extant introduced yes
Bosnia and Herzegovina extant native yes
Brazil extant introduced yes
British Indian Ocean Territory extant introduced yes
Bulgaria extant native yes
Cambodia extant native yes
Canada extant introduced yes
Cape Verde extant native yes
Cayman Islands (to UK) extant introduced yes
Chile extant introduced yes
China (mainland) extant native yes
Colombia extant introduced yes
Comoros extant introduced yes
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the extant native yes
Costa Rica extant introduced yes
Croatia extant native yes
Cuba extant introduced yes
Curaçao (to Netherlands) extant introduced yes
Cyprus extant native yes
Czechia extant native yes
Denmark extant native yes
Dominican Republic extant introduced yes
Ecuador extant introduced yes
Egypt extant native yes
El Salvador extant introduced yes
Eritrea extant native yes
Estonia extant native yes
Eswatini extant introduced yes
Falkland Islands (Malvinas) extant introduced yes
Faroe Islands (to Denmark) extant native yes
Finland extant native yes
France extant native yes
Gambia extant native yes
Georgia extant native yes
Germany extant native yes yes
Gibraltar (to UK) extant native yes
Greece extant native yes
Guadeloupe (to France) extant native yes
Guatemala extant introduced yes
Haiti extant introduced yes
Honduras extant introduced yes
Hungary extant native yes
Iceland extant native yes
India extant native yes
Indonesia extant native yes
Iran, Islamic Republic of extant native yes
Iraq extant native yes
Ireland extant native yes
Israel extant native yes
Jamaica extant introduced yes
Japan extant vagrant yes
Jordan extant native yes
Kazakhstan extant native yes
Kuwait extant native yes
Kyrgyzstan extant native yes
Laos extant native yes
Latvia extant native yes
Lebanon extant native yes
Lesotho extant introduced yes
Libya extant native yes
Liechtenstein extant native yes
Lithuania extant native yes
Luxembourg extant native yes
Malawi extant introduced yes
Maldives extant introduced yes
Mauritius extant introduced yes
Mexico extant introduced yes
Moldova extant native yes
Mongolia extant native yes
Montenegro extant native yes
Morocco extant native yes
Myanmar extant native yes
Nepal extant native yes
Netherlands extant native yes
New Caledonia (to France) extant introduced yes
New Zealand extant introduced yes
Nicaragua extant introduced yes
Nigeria extant native yes
North Macedonia extant native yes
Norway extant native yes
Oman extant native yes
Palestine extant native yes
Panama extant introduced yes
Paraguay extant introduced yes
Peru extant native yes
Poland extant native yes
Portugal extant native yes
Puerto Rico (to USA) extant introduced yes
Qatar extant native yes
Réunion (to France) extant introduced yes
Romania extant native yes
Russia extant native yes yes
Russia (Asian) extant native yes
Russia (Central Asian) extant native yes
Russia (European) extant native yes
Saudi Arabia extant native yes
Senegal extant introduced yes
Serbia extant native yes
Seychelles extant introduced yes
Singapore extant introduced yes
Sint Maarten (to Netherlands) extant introduced yes
Slovakia extant native yes
Slovenia extant native yes
Somalia extant native yes
South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands extant introduced yes
South Sudan extant native yes
Spain extant native yes
Sri Lanka extant native yes
St Pierre and Miquelon (to France) extant introduced yes
Sudan extant native
Sweden extant native yes
Switzerland extant native yes
Syria extant native yes
Tajikistan extant native yes
Tanzania extant introduced yes
Thailand extant native yes
Tunisia extant native yes
Türkiye extant native yes
Turkmenistan extant native yes
Turks and Caicos Islands (to UK) extant introduced yes
Ukraine extant native yes
United Arab Emirates extant native yes
United Kingdom extant native yes
Uruguay extant introduced yes
USA extant introduced yes
Uzbekistan extant native yes
Vanuatu extant introduced yes
Venezuela extant introduced yes
Vietnam extant vagrant yes
Virgin Islands (to UK) extant introduced yes
Virgin Islands (to USA) extant introduced yes
Yemen extant native yes
Zimbabwe extant introduced yes

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)
Country/Territory IBA Name

Habitats & altitude
Habitat (level 1) Habitat (level 2) Importance Occurrence
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine Artificial/Aquatic - Irrigated Land (includes irrigation channels) suitable resident
Artificial/Terrestrial Arable Land suitable resident
Artificial/Terrestrial Pastureland suitable resident
Artificial/Terrestrial Plantations suitable resident
Artificial/Terrestrial Rural Gardens suitable resident
Artificial/Terrestrial Subtropical/Tropical Heavily Degraded Former Forest suitable resident
Artificial/Terrestrial Urban Areas major resident
Forest Subtropical/Tropical Dry suitable resident
Forest Temperate suitable resident
Grassland Subtropical/Tropical Dry suitable resident
Grassland Temperate suitable resident
Rocky areas (eg. inland cliffs, mountain peaks) suitable resident
Shrubland Mediterranean-type Shrubby Vegetation suitable resident
Shrubland Subtropical/Tropical Dry suitable resident
Shrubland Subtropical/Tropical Moist suitable resident
Shrubland Temperate suitable resident
Wetlands (inland) Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands suitable resident
Wetlands (inland) Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls) suitable resident
Altitude 0 - 4500 m Occasional altitudinal limits  

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

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: House Sparrow Passer domesticus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/house-sparrow-passer-domesticus on 25/12/2024.
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 25/12/2024.