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Dataset · FAO

Livestock Density

63 years, 1961–2023 · 188 countries · 3 measures

This is how much livestock a country carries per hectare of farmland, counted in FAO's livestock units — a standard that weighs each species by how much it eats, so cattle, sheep and poultry can be added together honestly.

This site holds every year from 1961 to 2023, read from FAO’s own data and stored exactly as published.

Open Livestock Density, 2023Download all 63 · CSVSee it charted by country →
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Livestock Density · the file

Newest
Livestock Density, 2023
Held
63 years · 10,827 rows
Licence
CC BY 4.0

0163 years

Every year

Every year comes from FAO’s 2026 release, recalculated on one method. Each opens the full table for that year; each downloads as a CSV.

1961bar height: countries covered, up to 1882023
Every year of Livestock Density held on this site, newest first, with its download files.
YearCountriesChangeReadDownload
Livestock Density, 2023Newest188±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 2022188±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 2021188±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 2020188±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 2019188±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 2018188±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 2017188±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 2016188±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 2015188±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 2014188±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 2013188±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 2012188+2September 11, 2026CSV
Show all 63 years
YearCountriesChangeReadDownload
Livestock Density, 2011186±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 2010186±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 2009186±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 2008186±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 2007186±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 2006186+2September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 2005184±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 2004184±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 2003184±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 2002184±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 2001184±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 2000184+2September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1999182±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1998182±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1997182±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1996182±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1995182±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1994182±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1993182+4September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1992178+19September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1991159+1September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1990158±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1989158±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1988158±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1987158±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1986158±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1985158±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1984158±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1983158±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1982158±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1981158±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1980158±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1979158±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1978158±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1977158±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1976158±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1975158±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1974158±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1973158±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1972158±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1971158±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1970158±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1969158±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1968158±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1967158±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1966158±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1965158±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1964158±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1963158±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1962158±0September 11, 2026CSV
Livestock Density, 1961158—September 11, 2026CSV

Every year in one file, one row per country per year: livestock-density-all-editions-nations-inquiry.csv

025 columns

What’s in the file

Every column, what it holds, how it is stored and what its values look like — what a reader needs before opening the file.

Every column in the newest file of Livestock Density: what it holds, how it is stored, and its range.
ColumnWhat it holdsStored asRange, 2023DistinctEmptySpread
ISO Codecountry_codeIdentifierThe ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 code, added by this site. Every table here joins on it.Text · 3 letters—1880
CountrycountryNameThe country’s name, as this file spells it.Text—1880
Livestock units per hectare of agricultural landlivestock_densityHeadlineThe headline figure: Livestock units per hectare of agricultural land.Number · up to 2 decimals0.02Republic of the Congo43.97Singaporemiddle 0.541150
Total livestock unitslivestock_unitsMeasureTotal livestock in FAO livestock units, which weight each species by its feed requirement so cattle, sheep and poultry can be added together.Number · up to 2 decimals656Nauru266,633,967Chinamiddle 2,300,8981880
Share of total livestock (%)share_of_totalMeasureShare of the country's total livestock units that this figure covers, in %; as FAO's all-species total, it covers the whole herd.Number · whole numbers100188 share it100188 share itmiddle 10010

Profiled from the newest file. Range: the lowest and highest value, with the country holding it when only one does. Spread: countries in ten equal steps from lowest to highest. Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score.

03188 countries across every year

Who is covered

How many countries each year holds, continent by continent, who joined and who left, and which places this site covers that the dataset never has.

All regions
Countries in each year of Livestock Density, by continent.
201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023
Africa545454545454545454545454
Americas353535353535353535353535
Asia484848484848484848484848
Europe393939393939393939393939
Oceania121212121212121212121212
All188188188188188188188188188188188188

The newest 12 of 63 years.

Who joined and who left

  • 2012
    + Sudan+ South Sudan
  • 2006
    + Montenegro+ Serbia
  • 2000
    + Belgium+ Luxembourg
  • 1993
    + Czechia+ Eritrea+ Ethiopia+ Slovakia
  • 1992
    + Armenia+ Azerbaijan+ Bosnia and Herzegovina+ Belarus+ Estonia+ Georgia+ Croatia+ Kazakhstan+ Kyrgyzstan+ Lithuania+ Latvia+ Moldova+ North Macedonia+ Russia+ Slovenia+ Tajikistan+ Turkmenistan+ Ukraine+ Uzbekistan
  • 1991
    + Micronesia

Not in this dataset · 37 places this site covers

FAO gives no figure for these in any year held here. It is the publisher’s choice of scope, and each place’s profile shows what is measured.

American SamoaAndorraAnguillaArubaBermudaBritish Virgin IslandsCayman IslandsChannel IslandsCook IslandsCuraçaoFaroe IslandsFrench PolynesiaGibraltarGreenlandGuamIsle of ManKosovoLiechtensteinMacauMaldivesMarshall IslandsMonacoMontserratNew CaledoniaNiueNorthern CyprusNorthern Mariana IslandsPalauPalestinePuerto RicoSaint MartinSan MarinoSint MaartenSomalilandTurks and Caicos IslandsUnited States Virgin IslandsVatican City

04Provenance

Where it comes from

The path from the publisher to this page, and what was checked and changed on the way.

The site’s method

  1. 1 · Publisher

    Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

    fao.org

  2. 2 · Their file

    Livestock Density 2023

    Environment_LivestockPatterns_E_All_Data_(Normalized).zip

  3. 3 · Read by this site

    September 11, 2026

    Imported by a script that parses each figure and writes it down unrounded.

  4. 4 · Stored as

    63 files, one per year

    Each downloads as a CSV, or every year together as livestock-density-all-editions-nations-inquiry.csv

  5. 5 · Used on

    Its statistic page, and every profile it measures

    /statistics/livestock-density

Precision

The headline is stored to 2 decimals, as published.

Rounded by this site

Never. Tables on screen may show fewer decimals; the files never do.

Changed by this site

Reshaped into one row per country: regional and income-group totals are left out, only the columns listed are kept, each row gets its ISO 3166 code, and some country names are brought to one spelling. No value is recalculated, rescaled or rounded.

FAOSTAT's Livestock Patterns domain. The all-species total is FAO's own published figure, not a sum computed here.

05Reuse

Licence and credit

What the publisher’s licence lets you do, what it asks of you, and a credit line and citation ready to copy.

Every publisher’s terms

Licence · checked September 11, 2026

CC BY 4.0

  • Share and redistribute it
  • Adapt it and build on it
  • Use it commercially
  • Credit the publisher
  • Say what you changed

Share, adapt and use commercially. Credit the publisher and say if you changed anything.

A credit line

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Livestock Density, via Nations Inquiry.

Cite this dataset

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Livestock Density, 1961–2023 [data set]. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/livestock-density

The publisher’s own citation: FAO. FAOSTAT. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Plain-language summary, not legal advice. The licence text is what binds.

06Questions

Livestock Density: questions and answers

What is the Livestock Density?

This is how much livestock a country carries per hectare of farmland, counted in FAO's livestock units — a standard that weighs each species by how much it eats, so cattle, sheep and poultry can be added together honestly.

Which years of the Livestock Density can I download?

All 63, from 1961 to 2023, each as a CSV file, or every year together in one CSV.

Does FAO rank countries on it?

No. FAO publishes values only. The positions shown on this site are derived by ordering the published values, and are labelled as ours.

Can I use it commercially?

Yes, under CC BY 4.0, with credit to FAO. The licence text is linked on this page.

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