
A look at worldwide honey bee populations over 50 years
The Honey Bee Year

Throughout the summer, the number of bees in each colony increases again to make a strong, healthy colony. How? Well, the queen is constantly laying eggs (up to 2,000 per day!) in the height of the season and the average lifespan of a worker bee during the summer is about six weeks. This means that, in a colony of some 50,000 bees, a few thousand honey bees may die each day of natural causes but this is offset in the colony as some 2,000 worker bees hatch each day.
Most surveys of honey bee colonies track losses, but they don’t always report the gains in colony numbers that take place over the spring and summer. (It’s sort of like basing your financial situation only on your bank withdrawals, but not what you’ve deposited.) What does this all mean? Think of it this way: If a beekeeper experiences a loss of 40 percent of his or her colonies, that’s not good. However, the beekeeper can replace them the following year, albeit at a financial cost. So, just talking about colony losses isn’t really indicative of overall honey bee health.
Honey Bee Health
What factors affect the health of honey bee colonies? Here are the key threats:

According to the USDA, the Varroa mite is the most destructive threat to honey bee colonies (booooo). These small, tick-like parasites originated in Asia and rapidly spread around the world, causing huge headaches for beekeepers as they went. Varroa mites suck on the honey bees’ hymolymph (it’s like their blood) and transmit lethal diseases, and they can cause entire colonies to collapse if not treated in time. As an invasive species, the mites have no natural predators, so Western Honey Bees, the ones found in North America and Europe, have yet to develop an effective defense against them.

Just like humans, bees are susceptible to disease. Some, like the Deformed Winged Virus, are spread by Varroa mites. Others are caused by bacteria or fungi. For example, American foulbrood disease is caused by spore-producing bacteria. The spores infect honey bee larvae through ingested food, and the disease spreads through physical contact and social exchange of food in the hive. We don’t yet have a cure for many of the diseases impacting honey bees but researchers are on the case!

Imagine the only food you had available to eat every day was bread. Sure, you like bread. It’s tasty. But you wouldn’t be able to sustain yourself forever with it as your only food choice because it doesn’t contain all the vitamins and minerals you need as part of a healthy diet. Similarly, honey bees cannot thrive without diverse, nutritious foraging habitats (aka food) options. In addition to looking pretty, wildflowers are important for providing pollinators with a variety of pollen and nectar options. Honey bees also forage in fruit orchards, back yards and in agricultural crops as they need an all-season-long food supply to survive and thrive.

Pesticides are important tools that growers use to manage the health of their crops. Scientists conduct years of research to ensure these products are safe for people and wildlife, including bees, when they are used as directed. Putting safety before sales is important as we understand that using these products incorrectly can harm bees, which is why we encourage stewardship and that all product users to take C.A.R.E. before they apply.
So, to answer the original question: No, honey bee colonies aren’t moving towards extinction (phew) — in fact they’re increasing in numbers around the world (double phew). But honey bees still face many challenges around the world. Because of this, it is important to study and monitor health concerns, so we can be sure to protect our buzzing pollinator buddies.
Thankfully, organizations such as Project Apis m. and others worldwide are working on treatments and other ways to help honey bee populations. Through our Bee Care Science Program, we are supporting many other projects around the world, including Healthy Hives 2020 LATAM.
In 2015, Bayer launched Healthy Hives 2020 USA with a goal of funding research that is focused on finding tangible solutions to many of the challenges honey bees face by the year 2020. With less than two years to go, we can’t wait to share the results of these independent bee researchers! Learn more about the Bayer Bee Care Program and our efforts to protect honey bees here.
And remember, you don’t need a science degree to help support pollinators. There’s plenty you can do right from home! Here’s how you can get started.
Current Readers´ rating (9)
hussain
November 18, 2019 - 08:08 PM
What is the estimated time the bees will fully die?
sdf
September 08, 2019 - 06:39 PM
so which pesticide company supports your website?
Scott Gilmour
September 07, 2019 - 08:07 AM
Bayer seems to be suspiciously prevalent in this article.
Mike T
July 14, 2019 - 08:28 AM
Your chart for Honey Bee population up or down percentages doesn't have figures for the South Pacific which includes New Zealand & that small continent to their West, namely Australia. New Zealand produces a lot of food products including HoNeY... 🐝
Nom
June 05, 2019 - 07:53 AM
The article seem to be published in 2019 but in the charts when referencing "past 10 years" the data stops at the year 2013 which seems deceiving. Why is there no data for the 2013-2018 period?
Dieter
May 02, 2019 - 02:00 PM
How could there be such a large media presence for the "dying of honey bees" in recent years, when in fact over the last 50 years there has been a constant global increase of honey bee populations by 65%?
Who should one believe there? Many journalists apparently not, right?
Mike
April 02, 2019 - 12:52 AM
How prevalent are Bayer pesticides outside Europe and North America?