How many cattle are in the world? The global live cattle population amounted to about 1.57 billion heads in 2023, up from approximately 1.51 million in 2021. Cows as livestock The domestication of cattle began as early as 10,000 to 5,000 years ago. From ancient times up to the present, cattle are bred to provide meat and dairy. Cattle are also employed as draft animals to plow the fields or transport heavy objects. Cattle hide is used for the production of leather, and dung for fuel and agricultural fertilizer. In 2022, India was home to the highest number of milk cows in the world. Cattle farming in the United States Cattle meat such as beef and veal is one of the most widely consumed types of meat across the globe, and is particularly popular in the United States. The United States is the top producer of beef and veal of any country worldwide. In 2021, beef production in the United States reached 12.6 million metric tons. Beef production appears to be following a positive trend in the United States. More than 33.07 million cattle were slaughtered both commercially and in farms annually in the United States in 2019, up from 33 million in the previous year.

The cattle population in Russia has continuously declined since 2003, when it was measured at nearly **** million heads. In 2023, the number of cattle livestock in the country reached around **** million heads.

India's cattle inventory amounted to about *** million in 2023. In comparison, the global cattle population stood at over ***********, India had the highest cattle population followed by Brazil, China and the United States that year. Where are cattle bred in India? As one of the leading dairy producers and consumers worldwide, cattle in the south Asian country were bred mainly in the rural areas. However, its population was spread unevenly across the vast land. Uttar Pradesh ranked first in terms of milk production, followed by Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh in 2023. Contextualizing the holiness of the Indian cow Considered a sacred animal by Hindus in India, the cow is associated with several gods and goddesses. This deep religious and cultural significance has led to communal tensions. In 2014, the government established the Rashtriya Gokul Mission (RGM) to conserve and develop indigenous breeds of cows and buffaloes. While the general goal was well-received, it aligns with the underlying Hindu nationalist narrative of the current government.

Animal production statistics cover three main sub-domains based on three pieces of relevant legislation and related gentlemen’s agreements.

• Livestock and meat statistics are collected under Regulation (EC) No 1165/2008. They cover meat production, as activity of slaughterhouses (monthly) and as other slaughtering (annual), meat production (gross indigenous production) forecast (semi-annual or quarterly), livestock statistics, including regional statistics. A quality report is also collected every third year.
• Milk and milk product statistics are collected under Decision 97/80/EC implementing Directive 96/16/EC. They cover farm production and utilisation of milk (annual), collection (monthly for cows’ milk) and production activity by dairies (annual) and statistics on the structure of dairies (every third year). An annual methodological report is also collected.
• Statistics on eggs for hatching and farmyard poultry chicks are collected under Regulation (EC) No 617/2008, implementing Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 (Single CMO Regulation). They cover statistics on the structure (annual) and the activity (monthly) of hatcheries as well as reports on the external trade of chicks.

European Economic Area countries (EEA - Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) are requested to provide milk statistics, with the exception of those related to home consumption, as stated in Annex XXI of the EEA Agreement. Liechtenstein is exempted in the Agreement, only Norway is concerned.

The Agreement between the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on cooperation in the field of statistics states that Switzerland must provide Eurostat with national milk statistics and, after 2013, livestock and meat statistics.

The same statistics are requested from the candidate and potential candidate countries as EU acquis.

The statistical tables disseminated by Eurostat are organised, under Animal production (apro_anip), into three groups of tables on Milk and milk products (apro_mk), Livestock and meat (apro_mt) and Poultry farming (apro_ec). This later label covers statistics on hatcheries and trade in chicks and on production of eggs for consumption. The regional animal production statistics collected on livestock (agr_r_animal) and on cows’ milk production on farms (agr_r_milk_pr) are disseminated separately.

Due to the change in the legal basis or in the methodology, the time series may be broken. This is indicated by a flag in the tables.

Further data about the same topics refer to repealed legal acts or agreements. The tables on statistics on the structure of rearing (apro_mt_str) and the number of laying hens (apro_ec_lshen) or of equidae (apro_mt_lsequi) are therefore no longer updated. The same applies to some variables (external trade of animals and meat), periods (surveys in April or August) or items (number of horses) included in other tables.

The detailed content of each table and the reference to its legal definition is provided in the table below.

Table 3.1: Data tables disseminated regarding animal production statistics

This dataset as reported to the Rural Payments Agency contains a list of the cattle population in 2010 Attribution statement: © Rural Payments Agency

Number of cattle, by class and farm type, Canada and provinces (head x 1,000). Data are available on an annual basis.

Greece - Number of dairy cows was 79.50 Thousand in December of 2024, according to the EUROSTAT. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Greece - Number of dairy cows - last updated from the EUROSTAT on September of 2025. Historically, Greece - Number of dairy cows reached a record high of 144.00 Thousand in December of 2010 and a record low of 79.50 Thousand in December of 2024.

In 2025, there were around **** million dairy cows in Germany. This represents a small decline since 2024. However, in 1950 there were **** million dairy cows. The timeline shows the dairy cow population in Germany from 1950 to 2023.

This dataset as reported to the Rural Payments Agency contains information on Cattle born in or imported into Great Britain. Attribution statement: © Rural Payments Agency

This dataset as reported to the Rural Payments Agency contains cattle born before 1 August 1996 which were not registered until 2000, cattle whose birth date is unknown so registered as 11 November 1111 as a default birth date. Attribution statement: © Rural Payments Agency

This dataset as reported to the Rural Payments Agency contains information on cattle population by breed, sex and country on 1 January 2010. This includes cattle born in or imported into Great Britain. Attribution statement:

🇨🇭 스위스

Demographic composition and dynamics of animal and human populations are important determinants for the transmission dynamics of infectious disease and for the effect of infectious disease or environmental disasters on productivity. In many circumstances, demographic data are not available or of poor quality. Since 1999 Switzerland has been recording cattle movements, births, deaths and slaughter in an animal movement database (AMD). The data present in the AMD offers the opportunity for analysing and understanding the dynamic of the Swiss cattle population. A dynamic population model can serve as a building block for future disease transmission models and help policy makers in developing strategies regarding animal health, animal welfare, livestock management and productivity. The Swiss cattle population was therefore modelled using a system of ordinary differential equations. The model was stratified by production type (dairy or beef), age and gender (male and female calves: 0–1 year, heifers and young bulls: 1–2 years, cows and bulls: older than 2 years). The simulation of the Swiss cattle population reflects the observed pattern accurately. Parameters were optimized on the basis of the goodness-of-fit (using the Powell algorithm). The fitted rates were compared with calculated rates from the AMD and differed only marginally. This gives confidence in the fitted rates of parameters that are not directly deductible from the AMD (e.g. the proportion of calves that are moved from the dairy system to fattening plants).

9.7 (Thousand heads) in 2017. Livestock population include all age groups population of livestock of corresponding type. Object - large, medium and small farms. Period - as on the 1st of February.

This dataset as reported to the Rural Payments Agency contains a list of animal population by breed on 1 January this includes applications received for cattle born in or imported into Great Britain Attribution statement:

238.8 (Thousand heads) in 2017. Livestock population include all age groups population of livestock of corresponding type. Object - large, medium and small farms. Period - as on the 1st of February.

This dataset as reported to the Rural Payments Agency contains information on cattle population by county Attribution statement: © Rural Payments Agency

In 2023, the number of non-dairy cattle livestock in Japan amounted to around *** million heads. The non-dairy cattle population has been increasing after the most recent low-point in 2015 of less than *** million heads.

Netherlands - Number of dairy cows was 1527.00 Thousand in December of 2024, according to the EUROSTAT. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Netherlands - Number of dairy cows - last updated from the EUROSTAT on September of 2025. Historically, Netherlands - Number of dairy cows reached a record high of 1794.00 Thousand in December of 2016 and a record low of 1504.00 Thousand in December of 2011.

This dataset contains information on Animals that were alive on 31 December 2008, cattle Born or imported into Great Britain, applications that have passed initial cattle Tracing System validation checks, cattle registered to British cattle movement Service administrative locations, used for management purposes, as reported to the Rural Payments Agency Attribution statement: