The breeding range of the steppe eagle was already contracted markedly early on in 20th century, especially in the west, largely as result of habitat loss (in particular appropriation of steppes for agriculture) but also persecution and predation, factors that may have drove some pairs to elevated nest sites. Steppe eagles once bred in Romania, Moldova and, more recently, Ukraine. Careless pesticide use in Europe depleted prey populations and collapsed nearly the whole local ecosystem, which alongside habitat conversions and persecution drove the steppe eagle's European breeding population to extinction. Range contraction is very considerable today in the European Russia area where it is almost locally extinct as well. Declines overall have been rapid and alarming. It is estimated that as of the 20 years prior to 2015, the population worldwide has declined at minimum by 58.6%. As a result, the steppe eagle was uplisted in 2015 to being endangered by the IUCN. In the borderlands of Russia and Kazakhstan, an estimated 11.9% population decline was detected in merely 6 years of study. Primary global threats appear to be habitat loss, persecution, wildfires, predation (and trampling by cattle) of chicks and electrocutions and wire collisions, especially the latter causes. Furthermore, the steppe eagles genetic diversity may be rapidly declining as well. The diagnosed causes of decline in Xinjiang, Tibet and Qinghai were found mostly to be poaching, poisoning from rodent control programs (with systemic efforts dating back at least 60 years), poisoning also targeted towards predators, illegal trade, food shortages and wire collisions but perhaps most of all habitat destruction, often with their former homes destroyed to make way for roadworks, tourism and mine exploration, with more destruction from overharvest of trees and plants and overgrazing by livestock, and accidental are frequent. Poisoning is thought to be quite prevalent in the Altais, as well as powerline electrocutions. A mean of 13.3 individual steppe eagles in Kazakhstan were estimated to be killed by each of powerline. The steppe eagle can even been the most frequently electrocuted raptor in Kazakh data, at up to about 35% of 129 dead raptors or 49% of 223 dead raptors in a couple of relatively small stretches. Many birds of various families are killed by these powerlines, as was recorded in Central Kazakhstan, in addition to the various raptorial birds which (due to their low reproductive rates and large territories) are often unable to withstand continuous powerline losses. It is estimated that in West Kazakhstan that no fewer than 1635 nests (or 7.9% of the entire breeding Kazakh population) fail due to the parents being electrocuted on powerlines. Across the border in Orenburg, Russia, a high rate of electrocutions is known be occurring as well. Furthermore, overgrazing and habitat alterations by humans have destroyed much of what remains around Haloxylon stands of west Kazakhstan (in turn destroying about 50% of local nesting attempts), while some steppe eagles cannot nest locally due to presumed competitive exclusion by imperial eagles. Locally predation and nest losses can claim up to 80% of chicks but productivity is heavily dependent on foods. In the Karaganda Region, 20.9% of nests were recorded to be ruined by steppe fires. Less well understood losses in West Kazakhstan may be due to continued poaching, poisonings and blackflies which kill nestlings and seem to have increased with the warming temperatures. The number of steppe fires appears to be higher than ever before which also may be due to increasing warmth and aridity. The probable and irrevocable extinction of this species is projected if numerous detrimental factors are not reversed, namely the mitigation of electrical lines and towers in breeding areas, the removal of grazing and manmade fires in breeding areas as well as habitat destruction and the several other threats. Ambiguities exist over whether Kazakhstan can institute protective laws strong enough to prevent the loss of the species, as even powerline alterations have not occurred at the national level. However, continued relative stability of the species has been detected in the more minor eastern part of the range (based on largely unchanged numbers of migrants from here in Nepal and elsewhere in the Himalayas) such as Altai. One potential stopgap solution to mitigate some of the electrocutions may be to install T-shaped perches around transmission towers which has been effective in reducing the more minor decline from powerlines in the Mongolian part of the range. Notably, the rate of decline in the western part of the range is so pronounced which is quite to the contrary other similar raptors like eastern imperial eagles and long-legged buzzards have began to recover in similar areas (the opposite pattern almost manifests in the imperial eagle, which is declining more several in the east such as Baikal).