The wild pear is classified as an endangered tree species throughout Germany. The reasons for its rarity and endangerment lie in its competitive weakness in relation to forestry tree species, which displaces it and - also due to a lack of silvicultural support – in managed forests in peripheral and extreme locations. A second threat is the genetic mixing with cultured pears, which can occur in the course of generative reproduction.

Most of the approximately 14,000 wild pears identified in Germany are mainly found in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, north-eastern Württemberg and north-western Bavaria.

Important gene centres in Germany can be found in southern Germany, in Franconia, in northern and central Thuringia, in the area of the middle Elbe and in northern Brandenburg as well as in the coastal region of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania.