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Print Livestock population in numbers

17 May 2022

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The EU has a sizeable livestock population: there were 142 million pigs, 76 million bovine animals, 60 million sheep and 11 million goats in December 2021.

This information comes from data on the EU’s livestock population published today by Eurostat.
 

Majority of EU livestock reared in just a few EU Member States

By and large, the bigger Member States reared the most livestock:

  • Spain accounted for 24% of the EU’s pigs, 9% of the EU’s bovines, 25% of the EU’s sheep and 23% of the EU’s goats.
  • France accounted for 9% of the EU’s pigs, 23% of the EU’s bovines, 12% of the EU’s sheep and 12% of the EU’s goats.
  • Germany accounted for 17% of the EU’s pigs and 15% of the EU’s bovines, 3% of the EU’s sheep and 1% of the EU’s goats 

 

Bar graph: Pig population 2021, in millions, in the EU Member States

Source dataset: apro_mt_lspig 

 

There were some other Member States that were relatively specialised:

  • Denmark accounted for 9% of the EU’s pig population and the Netherlands a further 8%.
  • Ireland accounted for 9% of the EU’s bovine population.
  • Romania accounted for 17% of the EU’s sheep population. 
  • Greece accounted for 25% of the EU’s goat population. 

 

Bar graph: Bovine animal population, 2021, in millions, in the EU and EFTA countries

Source dataset: apro_mt_lscatl 

 

EU livestock population’s evolution over time

Between 2010 and 2021, there have been fluctuations in the population of the four main livestock species. The EU’s pig population reached almost 146 million in 2020 before declining again. However, in 2021, the number of pigs was still 2% higher than in 2010.
 

Linegraph: Livestock population in the EU, 2010-2021, index 2010=100, based on head of livestock

Source datasets: apro_mt_lscatl, apro_mt_lspig, apro_mt_lssheep and apro_mt_lsgoat

 

Over the same period, the population of bovine livestock reached nearly 80 million in 2016 (a 2% increase from 2010), before decreasing again over the next three years. In 2021, it was roughly 3% lower than in 2010.
The population of sheep and goats sustained a downward trend between 2010 and 2021, falling by 10% and 13% respectively in 2021 compared with 2010.
 
For more information: 

Methodological notes: 

  • The EU aggregates for sheep/goats are derived from the available data, which cover the Member States whose sheep/goat populations are significant. They respectively cover 98% and 96% of the EU total numbers (2015).

 
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