This paper presents an analysis of changes in elephant population estimates selected from the two most recent reports of the African Elephant Database (AED). Sites selected for analysis were restricted to surveyed areas in which successive estimates had been made using comparable methods. The resulting selection consisted of surveys conducted in eastern and southern Africa between 1994 and 2002, which together cover a large percentage of the total elephant population for which estimates are available in these two regions. The results suggest a significant overall increase (p < 0.0002) for the eastern and southern African sites combined. The overall increase in the southern African estimate was significant (p < 0.0004), but the increase in eastern African estimates was not statistically significant. It is concluded that savanna elephant populations in eastern and southern Africa are more likely to have increased than to have declined in the years leading up to the African Elephant Status Report 2002; important caveats become evident, however, when interpreting these findings.