The brown bear has the widest worldwide distribution of all species of bears. Until recently it was found in North America, northern Mexico, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. Today however, bears are only found in northwestern North America, Europe and most of North Asia. In Greece, according to an estimate conducted by ARCTUROS for the national authorities, it is estimated that approximately 565 to 870 individuals live in the wild. In the previous report (2019), this number was estimated at 450–500.
It should be noted that the current estimate is not the result of a systematic census but is based on local sampling and an extrapolated calculation using effective population size as an indicator. The largest population lives in the Pindos Mountains, and the other in the Rhodope Mountains. In recent years there has been consistent evidence of the presence of bears in the mountain axis of Vora-Olympos and Central Greece, even down to the mountainous Nafpaktia, an area where there have been no sightings in the last 70 years.