Chapter 6
Sheep & Goat Statistics
Summary
- People keep about 1,000,000,000 sheep worldwide (Table 1).
- Nearly a quarter of the world's sheep live in just two countries: China and India (Table 1).
- People kill about half a billion sheep and goats a year worldwide (Table 2).
- About half the world's sheep and goats are killed in just two countries: China and India (Table 2).
The Number of Sheep Kept Worldwide
Table 1. Number of Sheep Kept Worldwide.
Top ten countries & Worldwide for years 2002 to 2006.
Figures are rounded in millions. |
| |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
| China |
136 |
144 |
157 |
171 |
174 |
| Australia |
106 |
99 |
101 |
101 |
100 |
| India |
61 |
62 |
62 |
62 |
63 |
| Iran |
52 |
52 |
52 |
52 |
52 |
| Sudan |
48 |
48 |
49 |
50 |
50 |
| New Zealand |
40 |
40 |
40 |
40 |
40 |
| Britain |
36 |
36 |
36 |
35 |
35 |
| Turkey |
27 |
25 |
25 |
25 |
25 |
| South Africa |
26 |
26 |
25 |
25 |
25 |
| Pakistan |
24 |
25 |
25 |
25 |
25 |
| Others |
469 |
477 |
490 |
505 |
512 |
| World Total |
1,025 |
1,034 |
1,064 |
1,091 |
1,101 |
The Number of Sheep & Goats People Kill Worldwide
Table 2. Number of Sheep & Goats People Kill Worldwide.
Top ten countries & Worldwide for years 1996 to 2000.
Figures are rounded in millions. |
| |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
| China |
181 |
155 |
177 |
193 |
200 |
| India |
85 |
85 |
89 |
92 |
94 |
| New Zealand |
32 |
33 |
32 |
31 |
31 |
| Australia |
28 |
31 |
31 |
31 |
31 |
| Turkey |
24 |
24 |
24 |
23 |
23 |
| Spain |
20 |
19 |
20 |
20 |
19 |
| Britain |
18 |
17 |
19 |
19 |
18 |
| Saudi Arabia |
10 |
11 |
10 |
11 |
11 |
| France |
9 |
9 |
9 |
8 |
8 |
| Italy |
8 |
8 |
8 |
9 |
9 |
| Others |
68 |
66 |
58 |
55 |
50 |
| World Total |
483 |
458 |
477 |
492 |
494 |
Notes
Figures in Tables 1 & 2 are rounded to avoid spurious accuracy. Entries do not therefore always exactly add up to the total.
Figures for Table 1 are from Earth Trends, World Resources Institute (www.wri.org. accessed March 2010), who get their data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: FAOSTAT on-line statistical service (http://faostat.fao.org). Sheep are
Ovis species.
Figures for Table 2 are from
Sheep and Goat Slaughter, selected Countries. United States Agricultural Service (Foreign Agricultural Service, Commodity and Marketing Programs, Dairy, Livestock, and Poultry Division). Accessed online March 2010. They obtain their data from "counselor and attache reports, official statistics, and results of office research".
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