Countries by number of cattle

Brazil had the highest number of cattle of 192 countries in 2021, at 224,601,992 head. Niue had the lowest, at 113 head. The median was 1,511,801 head and the figure for the World was 1,540,784,473 head. Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Highest224,601,992Brazil

Lowest113Niue

Median1,511,801192 countries

World1,540,784,473History

Map of countries, 2021

Under 1M
1M to 2M
2M to 4M
4M to 11M
11M and over
No data

head, 2021. Hatched areas have no value for this period. Source: FAOSTAT, Production: Crops and livestock products (QCL): Cattle, stocks, head (item 866, element 5111). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

Top 40 countries, 2021

head. Source: FAOSTAT, Production: Crops and livestock products (QCL): Cattle, stocks, head (item 866, element 5111). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	Countries	2021 head	Change on 2020
1	Brazil	224,601,992	+3.1%
2	India Estimated	193,442,970	-0.8%
3	United States	93,586,500	-0.2%
4	China Estimated	68,720,750	+2.7%
5	Ethiopia Estimated	68,079,757	-3.1%
6	Argentina	53,517,534	-1.7%
7	Pakistan	51,495,000	+3.8%
8	Mexico	35,998,885	+1%
9	Tanzania	35,256,637	+4.9%
10	Chad	33,287,209	+3.3%
11	Sudan Estimated	31,026,579	-2.3%
12	Colombia	29,301,392	+4.7%
13	Bangladesh	24,545,000	+0.6%
14	Australia	24,431,174	+3.9%
15	Kenya	22,853,225	-14.6%
16	Nigeria	20,764,244	+0.9%
17	Russia	18,027,172	-0.5%
18	Indonesia	17,977,214	+3.1%
19	Türkiye	17,850,543	-0.6%
20	France	17,330,080	-2.7%
21	Niger	17,107,271	+6%
22	Venezuela	16,668,751	+3.8%
23	Uganda	14,500,000	-2.8%
24	Paraguay	13,919,507	-0.8%
25	South Sudan	13,612,784	-1.2%
26	Uzbekistan	13,544,400	+3%
27	Mali	12,848,696	+3%
28	South Africa	12,232,115	-0.5%
29	Uruguay	11,910,000	+6.5%
30	Canada	11,515,000	-0.2%
31	Germany	11,039,660	-2.3%
32	Myanmar	10,663,000	+3.5%
33	Bolivia	10,385,482	+2.8%
34	New Zealand	10,150,246	+0.7%
35	Burkina Faso	9,740,337	+28%
36	United Kingdom	9,603,000	-0.1%
37	Guinea	8,826,796	+5.5%
38	Nepal	7,466,841	+0.1%
39	Madagascar	7,030,843	-11.7%
40	Kazakhstan Estimated	6,704,000	+3.4%
41	Ireland	6,649,310	+1.8%
42	Spain	6,576,300	-0.9%
43	Poland	6,378,700	+1.6%
44	Vietnam	6,333,344	+1.7%
45	Italy	6,280,280	-1.9%
46	Cameroon Estimated	5,903,786	+1.6%
47	Peru	5,853,660	+3.9%
48	Iran	5,628,000	+5.7%
49	Zimbabwe	5,478,648	+5.5%
50	Nicaragua Estimated	5,403,602	+1.4%
51	Afghanistan Estimated	5,267,794	-1.9%
52	Angola Estimated	5,140,151	+4.4%
53	Mongolia	5,022,225	+6.1%
54	Somalia Estimated	4,789,380	+0.2%
55	Central African Republic Estimated	4,668,171	-2.2%
56	Thailand Estimated	4,445,086	-2.5%
57	Belarus	4,232,400	-1.3%
58	Guatemala Estimated	4,139,731	+2.1%
59	Zambia Estimated	4,114,604	+7.9%
60	Ecuador	4,066,930	-6.2%
61	South Korea	3,990,257	+4.9%
62	Japan	3,961,000	+1.4%
63	Netherlands	3,705,000	+0.4%
64	Senegal	3,678,029	+0.5%
65	Cuba	3,657,300	-2.5%
66	Morocco	3,178,876	+0.4%
67	Dominican Republic Estimated	3,022,475	+0.4%
68	Chile Estimated	3,020,039	-5.6%
69	Ukraine	2,874,000	-7.1%
70	Honduras Estimated	2,872,190	+0.4%
71	Cambodia Estimated	2,849,203	+0.7%
72	Egypt	2,812,000	+2.4%
73	Philippines	2,605,262	+2.5%
74	Namibia	2,590,348	+2.9%
75	Azerbaijan	2,519,692	+0.6%
76	Turkmenistan	2,513,950	+0.6%
77	Tajikistan	2,468,000	+3.2%
78	Belgium	2,310,440	-1.1%
79	Laos	2,299,000	+5.1%
80	Mozambique	2,219,635	+1.6%
81	Ghana	2,174,000	+3.1%
82	Eritrea Estimated	2,159,183	+1.7%
83	Costa Rica	2,144,370	+50.2%
84	Benin	2,117,302	+9.3%
85	Iraq	2,061,427	+2.1%
86	Mauritania Estimated	1,977,421	+1.3%
87	Malawi	1,959,101	+0.7%
88	Yemen	1,872,516	+2%
89	Austria	1,870,100	+0.8%
90	Romania	1,826,800	-2.6%
91	Côte d’Ivoire	1,806,045	+3.1%
92	Kyrgyzstan	1,750,467	+2%
93	Algeria	1,734,476	-0.3%
94	Portugal	1,640,650	-3%
95	Haiti Estimated	1,524,954	-0.2%
96	Switzerland	1,513,701	-0.1%
97	Panama	1,509,900	+0.3%
98	Rwanda Estimated	1,498,466	-6.8%
99	Democratic Republic of the Congo	1,490,234	+10.9%
100	Denmark	1,480,000	-1.3%
101	Sweden	1,389,890	-0.1%
102	Czechia	1,359,420	+1.4%
103	Sri Lanka	1,131,080	+2.5%
104	Burundi	1,117,598	+33.2%
105	Botswana Estimated	990,000	-1%
106	Georgia	925,800	+6.5%
107	Hungary	909,900	-2.5%
108	Norway	901,026	+2%
109	Syria	872,307	-1.4%
110	Serbia	859,514	-3%
111	Finland	829,980	-0.6%
112	El Salvador	790,983	+4.9%
113	Guinea-Bissau Estimated	736,533	+0.9%
114	Sierra Leone	733,029	+17.8%
115	Malaysia	717,431	+2.6%
116	Lithuania	628,700	-0.1%
117	Greece	614,100	-2.8%
118	Armenia	613,413	+5.9%
119	Bulgaria	611,200	+3.8%
120	North Korea Estimated	578,412	-0.4%
121	Israel	555,196	+5.6%
122	Eswatini	554,400	+1%
123	Tunisia Estimated	536,067	+0.2%
124	Slovenia	482,620	-0.6%
125	Togo	468,942	+1%
126	Saudi Arabia	453,603	-35.2%
127	Slovakia	434,090	-1.9%
128	Croatia	428,000	+1.2%
129	Oman	421,950	+2.2%
130	Latvia	393,470	-1.4%
131	Bhutan	345,978	+4.1%
132	Bosnia and Herzegovina	341,898	-20%
133	Republic of the Congo Estimated	337,619	+0.4%
134	Albania	336,784	-7.1%
135	Djibouti Estimated	313,647	+0.8%
136	Lesotho	288,664	-12.7%
137	Gambia	283,300	-0.7%
138	Estonia	250,800	-1%
139	Timor-Leste	222,894	-9.7%
140	Puerto Rico Estimated	210,266	-3.5%
141	Libya	199,610	-8.5%
142	Luxembourg	187,200	-1.8%
143	North Macedonia	177,622	-20.1%
144	Taiwan	159,122	+5%
145	Jamaica Estimated	158,671	-0.8%
146	United Arab Emirates	112,370	+9%
147	Moldova	104,074	-4.4%
148	Belize Estimated	100,528	-1.1%
149	Guyana Estimated	99,629	+3.6%
150	Fiji	93,440	+0.1%
151	Papua New Guinea Estimated	91,591	-0.3%
152	Vanuatu Estimated	89,411	-0%
153	Lebanon	88,663	+0.6%
154	Cyprus	84,610	+1.9%
155	Iceland	80,563	-0.1%
156	New Caledonia Estimated	79,595	-0.3%
157	Jordan	78,477	+0.8%
158	Montenegro	70,227	-1.3%
159	Palestine	67,760	+162.7%
160	Comoros Estimated	51,378	+0.1%
161	Qatar	50,721	+13.4%
162	Liberia Estimated	42,917	+1.5%
163	Samoa Estimated	40,345	-3.8%
164	Gabon Estimated	39,262	+1.1%
165	Suriname	35,602	-2.4%
166	Trinidad and Tobago Estimated	34,800	+0.1%
167	Kuwait	31,770	+0.9%
168	Cape Verde	29,584	+0.2%
169	Micronesia Estimated	17,216	+0.5%
170	Solomon Islands Estimated	15,260	+1%
171	Malta	14,020	-1.9%
172	Dominica Estimated	13,879	-0%
173	Tonga Estimated	12,157	+0.9%
174	Barbados Estimated	11,229	+2.4%
175	Saint Lucia Estimated	10,514	+0.4%
176	French Polynesia Estimated	8,895	+3.7%
177	Bahrain	7,500	+7.1%
178	Grenada Estimated	5,889	-3.6%
179	Equatorial Guinea Estimated	5,462	+0.4%
180	Antigua and Barbuda Estimated	4,187	-0.3%
181	Mauritius	3,734	-21.5%
182	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Estimated	3,000	-11.5%
183	Saint Kitts and Nevis Estimated	1,891	-2.2%
184	Faroe Islands	1,860	+1.3%
185	Hong Kong Estimated	1,573	+0.2%
186	São Tomé and Príncipe Estimated	1,452	+2.6%
187	Bahamas Estimated	743	-0.8%
188	Seychelles Estimated	600	+20%
189	Brunei	353	-39.5%
190	Cook Islands Estimated	227	+1.3%
191	Singapore Estimated	177	+0.6%
192	Niue Estimated	113	0%

Other periods

About this ranking

Number of cattle (domestic cattle, not buffaloes) present in the country, as published in FAOSTAT's crops and livestock products domain. FAO asks for the count on one day of the year, usually the census or survey date, so the reference day differs between countries.

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.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the countries are compared on one definition. 4 countries with data in other periods have no value for 2021 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

FAO. 2025. FAOSTAT: Production: Crops and livestock products (QCL): Cattle, stocks, head (item 866, element 5111). 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

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APA 7

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2025). Production: Crops and livestock products (QCL): Cattle, stocks, head (item 866, element 5111) (Countries by number of cattle, 2021) [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): Cattle, stocks, head (item 866, element 5111), Countries by number of cattle, 2021. 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/rankings/cattle-population/countries?period=2021. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 2025. Production: Crops and livestock products (QCL): Cattle, stocks, head (item 866, element 5111). Countries by number of cattle, 2021. 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/rankings/cattle-population/countries?period=2021.

Harvard

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) Production: Crops and livestock products (QCL): Cattle, stocks, head (item 866, element 5111), Countries by number of cattle, 2021 [Dataset]. Available at: https://bulks-faostat.fao.org/production/Production_Crops_Livestock_E_All_Data_%28Normalized%29.zip, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/cattle-population/countries?period=2021 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{food_countries_by_number_of_2021,
  author = {{Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations}},
  title = {{Production: Crops and livestock products (QCL): Cattle, stocks, head (item 866, element 5111): Countries by number of cattle, 2021}},
  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/rankings/cattle-population/countries?period=2021. Publisher attribution: FAO. 2025. FAOSTAT: Production: Crops and livestock products (QCL): Cattle, stocks, head (item 866, element 5111). 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): Cattle, stocks, head (item 866, element 5111): Countries by number of cattle, 2021
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/rankings/cattle-population/countries?period=2021
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/cattle-population/countries?period=2021.
N1  - Publisher attribution: FAO. 2025. FAOSTAT: Production: Crops and livestock products (QCL): Cattle, stocks, head (item 866, element 5111). 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

Which country has the highest number of cattle?

Brazil, with 224,601,992 head in 2021, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Which country has the lowest number of cattle?

Niue, with 113 head in 2021.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Production: Crops and livestock products (QCL): Cattle, stocks, head (item 866, element 5111). Retrieved 2026-10-12. 4 countries have no value for 2021 and are not ranked.

Number of cattle: other rankings

EU countries