Ireland and Croatia have recorded the biggest declines in pig populations in the EU between December 2022 and December 2023, according to latest figures by Eurostat.
Both countries saw sharp decreases in their pig populations at -10% compared with 2022. Ireland’s pig population fell from 1,570,390 in 2022 to 1,407,610 in 2023.
Meanwhile, the number of bovine animals in Ireland remained almost unchanged, falling from 6,551,830 to 6,525,960 during the one-year period, according to Eurostat.
Pig numbers in Croatia fell from 945,000 to 847,000 between December 2022 and December 2023. Bovine numbers declined from 422,000 to 415,000, Eurostat figures show.
Pig and bovine numbers
Bulgaria and Malta recorded sharp increases in their pig and bovine populations at 21%. Pig numbers in Bulgaria now stand at 726,940 while bovine numbers are at 574,090.
Pig and bovine populations in Malta are now at 35,790 and 14,230 respectively. Spain and France remain the countries with the highest numbers of pigs and bovine animals respectively.
Spain’s pig population fell from 34,073,380 in December 2022 to 33,803,040 in December 2023. The number of bovine animals in France declined from 16,986,190 to 16,806,90.
Latvia recorded the largest decline in its bovine population in 2023 at -6% on 2022, followed by Lithuania, Estonia, Portugal, Finland and Hungary which all declined about 3%.
Cyprus was the only country with a modest increase of 1%, whilst bovine populations in Malta, Poland and Ireland remained almost unchanged on 2022 levels, Eurostat said.
Bovine populations are largest in France, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands. Pig numbers are highest in Spain, Germany, France, Demark, the Netherlands, Poland and Italy.
EU livestock population
Livestock populations of pigs, bovine animals, sheep and goats in the EU have continued to decline last year, according to Eurostat figures published today (Tuesday, May 21).
Compared with 2022, the pig and bovine populations were down by 1% to 133 million pigs and 74 million bovine animals. The number of sheep and goats fell by 3% and 5% respectively to 58 million sheep and 11 million goats.
This decline in livestock numbers is in line with a downward trend as, over the past decade, the populations of all livestock have fallen in the EU, according to Eurostat.
The population of bovine animals decreased the least, down by 5% compared with 2013, followed by a 6% fall in pig numbers. Sheep populations dropped by 9%, while that of goats experienced a sharp decline of 15%.