Numbers

[+amjamjoy71]

Hi

can some tell me most recent exact number of active geocachers in the uk and in the world please 🙏🏻 

for context, i am going to a country park tomorrow where there are no geocaches. I visited a month ago and when enquiring, i was told geocaching was a thing of the past and was at its height 5 years ago 😳 i would like to present them with some facts to encourage a trail there. 
many thanks A x

Edited March 26 by amjamjoy71
Adding information

[Keystone]

Geocaching is quite healthy and growing, including in the UK.  The UK is fifth in the world for the number of geocaches (currently 189,444 caches).

 

Five years ago was the COVID-19 pandemic.  The pandemic was actually a shot in the arm for geocaching, as people looked for safe, healthy outdoor activities to pass the time.  Activity in 2020 reversed a downward trend.  (Except for event caches, of course - but they've rebounded after the pandemic to higher numbers.)

 

You can find lots of statistics about geocaching on project-gc.com.  At the linked page, I applied filters to produce the following chart about geocaches in the UK:

 

 

[Keystone]

You can go to this project-gc page to see how many caches are being logged in an area during a time period.  You might want to try filtering on your local area to demonstrate how many geocachers are out and about, finding lots of caches.

[+Bear and Ragged]

Also, try with the GAGB - Geocaching Association of Great Britain

https://www.gagb.org.uk

Who have agreements with a lot of landowners, Forestry Commission, National Trust, councils and parks, etc.

[+x7Kevin]

HQ makes an annual infographic and shares some basic statistics that might be helpful.

 

https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2025/01/geocaching-in-2024-a-year-in-review/

[+killyman1]

according to this graph the business has been on a decline since a peak 2015-2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[+MartyBartfast]

9 hours ago, killyman1 said:

according to this graph the business has been on a decline since a peak 2015-2016

I'm not sure you can truly conclude that from that graph. Clearly the boom years were 2015-2016, but I would say it's settled down to it's base level now, the last few years don't show much of a decline, and the same graph for hides in the UK show it being even more level over recent years. Also while the overall profile for some other countries show a similar pattern recent years seem to be even more level.

Also, consider that Lab Caches were introduced back in 2019 (?) and those logs aren't included in that graph.

[+arisoft]

23 hours ago, amjamjoy71 said:

for context, i am going to a country park tomorrow where there are no geocaches. I visited a month ago and when enquiring, i was told geocaching was a thing of the past and was at its height 5 years ago 😳 i would like to present them with some facts to encourage a trail there. 

 

Do you mean that you are trying to encourage them to allow you to put a trail there? If they were geocachers, there would definitely be a trail.