Data / Number of chickens / Ireland

Number of chickens in Ireland

Number of chickens in Ireland was 15,236,000 head in 2020, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. That is the 16th highest of 26 EU countries in 2020.

2020, head15,236,000
Rank16th of 26EU countries ranked
Series high15,504,0002017
Series low6,902,0001964

Next release: Thursday, 31 December 2026, estimated by Invokely from past publication dates (low confidence), not announced by the publisher. Release calendar

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Number of chickens in Ireland, 1961 to 2020

6M8M10M12M14M16M19611970197919881997200620201961: 7,258,000 head1962: 6,954,000 head1963: 7,050,000 head1964: 6,902,000 head1965: 8,276,000 head1966: 8,246,000 head1967: 7,847,000 head1968: 7,960,000 head1969: 7,986,000 head1970: 7,887,000 head1971: 8,178,000 head1972: 8,500,000 head1973: 9,144,000 head1974: 9,048,000 head1975: 8,107,000 head1976: 8,294,000 head1977: 8,345,000 head1978: 8,349,000 head1979: 8,434,000 head1980: 8,567,000 head1981: 8,166,000 head1982: 8,102,000 head1983: 7,970,000 head1984: 7,387,000 head1985: 7,425,000 head1986: 7,417,000 head1987: 7,340,000 head1988: 7,446,000 head1989: 8,276,000 head1990: 8,187,000 head1991: 9,628,000 head1992: 9,920,000 head1993: 10,062,000 head1994: 10,966,000 head1995: 11,906,000 head1996: 11,221,000 head1997: 11,491,000 head1998: 11,233,000 head1999: 10,991,000 head2000: 12,725,000 head2001: 12,603,000 head2002: 12,709,000 head2003: 12,738,000 head2004: 12,500,000 head2005: 12,300,000 head2006: 12,800,000 head2007: 13,000,000 head2008: 13,200,000 head2009: 15,000,000 head2010: 13,800,000 head2011: 14,000,000 head2012: 14,500,000 head2013: 15,000,000 head2014: 15,100,000 head2015: 15,202,000 head2016: 15,438,000 head2017: 15,504,000 head2020: 15,236,000 head
head. Source: FAOSTAT, Production: Crops and livestock products (QCL): Chickens, stocks, 1000 head (item 1057, element 5112). Retrieved 2026-10-12, published 2025-12-31.
All 58 values
Periodhead
202015,236,000
201715,504,000 Estimated
201615,438,000 Estimated
201515,202,000 Estimated
201415,100,000 Estimated
201315,000,000 Estimated
201214,500,000 Estimated
201114,000,000 Estimated
201013,800,000 Estimated
200915,000,000 Estimated
200813,200,000 Estimated
200713,000,000 Estimated
200612,800,000 Estimated
200512,300,000 Estimated
200412,500,000 Estimated
200312,738,000
200212,709,000
200112,603,000
200012,725,000
199910,991,000
199811,233,000
199711,491,000
199611,221,000
199511,906,000
199410,966,000
199310,062,000
19929,920,000
19919,628,000
19908,187,000
19898,276,000
19887,446,000
19877,340,000
19867,417,000
19857,425,000
19847,387,000
19837,970,000
19828,102,000
19818,166,000
19808,567,000
19798,434,000
19788,349,000
19778,345,000
19768,294,000
19758,107,000
19749,048,000
19739,144,000
19728,500,000 Estimated
19718,178,000
19707,887,000
19697,986,000
19687,960,000
19677,847,000
19668,246,000
19658,276,000
19646,902,000
19637,050,000
19626,954,000
19617,258,000

Rankings

Definition

Number of chickens present in the country, laying hens and birds raised for meat alike, as published in FAOSTAT's crops and livestock products domain. FAO publishes thousands of birds; Invokely multiplies by 1,000.

A count on one day of the year, while broilers live a few weeks, so it understates the number of birds raised in a year. FAO fills gaps in national reporting with its own estimates and imputations, which are marked as estimated, and revises past years when countries send new figures.

How to cite

FAO. 2025. FAOSTAT: Production: Crops and livestock products (QCL): Chickens, stocks, 1000 head (item 1057, element 5112). Accessed on 2026-10-12. https://bulks-faostat.fao.org/production/Production_Crops_Livestock_E_All_Data_%28Normalized%29.zip Licence: CC-BY-4.0. FAO does not endorse Invokely or this use of the data.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2025). Production: Crops and livestock products (QCL): Chickens, stocks, 1000 head (item 1057, element 5112) (Number of chickens, Ireland, 1961 to 2020) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://bulks-faostat.fao.org/production/Production_Crops_Livestock_E_All_Data_%28Normalized%29.zip

MLA 9

Production: Crops and livestock products (QCL): Chickens, stocks, 1000 head (item 1057, element 5112), Number of chickens, Ireland, 1961 to 2020. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 31 Dec. 2025, https://bulks-faostat.fao.org/production/Production_Crops_Livestock_E_All_Data_%28Normalized%29.zip. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/chicken-population/ireland. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 2025. Production: Crops and livestock products (QCL): Chickens, stocks, 1000 head (item 1057, element 5112). Number of chickens, Ireland, 1961 to 2020. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://bulks-faostat.fao.org/production/Production_Crops_Livestock_E_All_Data_%28Normalized%29.zip. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/chicken-population/ireland.

Harvard

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) Production: Crops and livestock products (QCL): Chickens, stocks, 1000 head (item 1057, element 5112), Number of chickens, Ireland, 1961 to 2020 [Dataset]. Available at: https://bulks-faostat.fao.org/production/Production_Crops_Livestock_E_All_Data_%28Normalized%29.zip, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/en/chicken-population/ireland (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{food_number_of_chickens_ireland_2020,
  author = {{Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations}},
  title = {{Production: Crops and livestock products (QCL): Chickens, stocks, 1000 head (item 1057, element 5112): Number of chickens, Ireland, 1961 to 2020}},
  year = {2025},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://bulks-faostat.fao.org/production/Production_Crops_Livestock_E_All_Data_%28Normalized%29.zip},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/chicken-population/ireland. Publisher attribution: FAO. 2025. FAOSTAT: Production: Crops and livestock products (QCL): Chickens, stocks, 1000 head (item 1057, element 5112). Accessed on 2026-10-12. https://bulks-faostat.fao.org/production/Production\_Crops\_Livestock\_E\_All\_Data\_\%28Normalized\%29.zip Licence: CC-BY-4.0. FAO does not endorse Invokely or this use of the data.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
TI  - Production: Crops and livestock products (QCL): Chickens, stocks, 1000 head (item 1057, element 5112): Number of chickens, Ireland, 1961 to 2020
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/31
PB  - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://bulks-faostat.fao.org/production/Production_Crops_Livestock_E_All_Data_%28Normalized%29.zip
L2  - https://invokely.ai/en/chicken-population/ireland
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/chicken-population/ireland.
N1  - Publisher attribution: FAO. 2025. FAOSTAT: Production: Crops and livestock products (QCL): Chickens, stocks, 1000 head (item 1057, element 5112). Accessed on 2026-10-12. https://bulks-faostat.fao.org/production/Production_Crops_Livestock_E_All_Data_%28Normalized%29.zip Licence: CC-BY-4.0. FAO does not endorse Invokely or this use of the data.
ER  -
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Questions

What is the number of chickens in Ireland?

Number of chickens in Ireland was 15,236,000 head in 2020, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. That is the 16th highest of 26 EU countries in 2020.

Where does this figure come from?

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Production: Crops and livestock products (QCL): Chickens, stocks, 1000 head (item 1057, element 5112). Retrieved by Invokely on 2026-10-12.

What was the highest number of chickens in Ireland?

15,504,000 head in 2017, the highest value since 1961 in this series.

Number of chickens elsewhere in European Union (27)

Related statistics for Ireland

All statistics for Ireland | Ireland in figures