Pues según el informe de WWF-World Wide Fund for Nature del 2002 (Adena en España) el número de osos polares, aproximadamente unos 22.000, permanece estable, con algunas regiones en aumento ("increasing"), otras disminuyendo ("decreasing") y la mayoría estables.
"The general population status of polar bears is currently stable, though there are pronounced differences
between the various populations. Some populations are stable, some seem to be increasing, and some are
decreasing due to various pressures. The status of some populations is not well documented."
Population Abundance Estimate Status
Arctic Basin unknown unknown
Baffin Bay (BB) 2200 decreasing
Barents Sea 2000-5000 unknown
Chukchi Sea 2000+ stable*
Davis Strait (DS) 1400 decreasing*
East Greenland 2000 unknown
Foxe Basin (FB) 2300 stable
Gulf of Boothia (GB) 900 stable
Kane Basin (KB) 200 stable
Kara Sea unknown unknown
Lancaster Sound (LS) 1700 stable
Laptev Sea 800-1200 unknown
M'Clintock Channel (MC) 350 stable*
Northern Beaufort Sea (NB) 1200 increasing
Norwegian Bay (NW) 100 stable
Queen Elizabeth (QE) 200 unknown
Southern Beaufort Sea (SB) 1800 increasing
Southern Hudson Bay (SH) 1000 stable
Viscount Melville Sound (VM) 230 stable
Western Hudson Bay (WH) 1200 stable
http://www.wwf.org.uk/filelibrary/pdf/polar_bears_at_risk_report.pdf