This stork is found in southern and eastern Pakistan, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka and mainland southeastern Asia. The subspecies, australis, is endemic to southern New Guinea, northern and eastern Australia. It chiefly frequents and requires extensive, comparatively undisturbed freshwater wetlands, including swamps, rivers, oxbow lakes, lagoons, flooded grasslands, water meadows and billabongs. It is a "near-threatened" species with about 11,000 -21,000 adult individuals left. It is threatened by habitat loss due to the conversion of wetlands to fields, felling of nest-trees, overfishing, overgrazing, hunting and excessive capture for zoos. There are conservation efforts in Uttar Pradesh, India, which have involved the retention of wetlands and nest-trees; both have benefited the species.