Countries by number of cattle

Brazil had the highest number of cattle of 191 countries in 2023, at 238,620,910 head. Niue had the lowest, at 113 head. The median was 1,527,720 head and the figure for the World was 1,574,141,046 head. Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Highest238,620,910Brazil

Lowest113Niue

Median1,527,720191 countries

World1,574,141,046History

Map of countries, 2023

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

head, 2023. 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, 2023

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

Full ranking

Rank	Countries	2023 head	Change on 2022
1	Brazil	238,620,910	+1.6%
2	India Estimated	194,539,444	+0.2%
3	United States	88,841,000	-3.2%
4	China Estimated	73,559,570	+2.9%
5	Ethiopia Estimated	69,318,245	+4.6%
6	Pakistan	55,450,000	+3.8%
7	Argentina	54,242,595	+1.5%
8	Tanzania	37,913,129	+3.6%
9	Chad	37,647,402	+5.3%
10	Mexico	36,619,592	+0.8%
11	Sudan Estimated	30,703,980	+2%
12	Australia	29,878,186	+22.5%
13	Colombia	29,203,256	-1.5%
14	Bangladesh	24,856,000	+0.6%
15	Kenya	21,882,008	+5%
16	Nigeria Estimated	20,896,548	+0.2%
17	Niger	19,221,727	+6%
18	Indonesia Estimated	17,567,755	-0.2%
19	Russia	17,489,037	-0.9%
20	France	16,806,900	-1.1%
21	Türkiye	16,421,256	-2.6%
22	Venezuela	16,210,903	-7.1%
23	Uganda	14,614,315	+0.6%
24	Uzbekistan	14,142,239	+2.1%
25	South Sudan Estimated	14,134,585	+3.6%
26	Mali	13,631,182	+3%
27	Paraguay Estimated	13,113,252	-1%
28	South Africa	12,198,082	0%
29	Uruguay	11,877,000	+2.6%
30	Canada	11,245,000	-2.3%
31	Bolivia	11,099,476	+3.4%
32	Germany	10,836,200	-1.5%
33	Myanmar Estimated	10,800,000	-0.1%
34	Burkina Faso	10,143,317	+2%
35	Guinea	9,821,600	+5.5%
36	United Kingdom	9,555,426	-0.8%
37	New Zealand	9,538,661	-2.2%
38	Madagascar Estimated	7,520,290	+19%
39	Kazakhstan	6,616,836	+1.2%
40	Ireland	6,525,960	-0.4%
41	Vietnam	6,331,895	-0.3%
42	Spain	6,294,640	-2.5%
43	Poland	6,267,460	-2.8%
44	Italy	5,999,000	-0.8%
45	Cameroon Estimated	5,923,854	+0.3%
46	Peru	5,876,213	+0.2%
47	Zimbabwe	5,754,985	+4%
48	Nicaragua Estimated	5,619,536	+1.7%
49	Iran Estimated	5,549,436	-1.3%
50	Afghanistan Estimated	5,470,284	+1.6%
51	Mongolia	5,350,755	-2.9%
52	Angola Estimated	5,165,133	+0.7%
53	Zambia	5,115,495	+8.9%
54	Central African Republic Estimated	4,811,279	+1.4%
55	Somalia Estimated	4,785,860	-0.1%
56	Nepal	4,750,329	-35.9%
57	Thailand Estimated	4,405,006	-2.2%
58	Guatemala Estimated	4,277,177	+1.6%
59	Belarus	4,197,100	-0.3%
60	Japan	4,043,000	+1.5%
61	South Korea	4,035,076	-2%
62	Senegal Estimated	3,831,583	+1.7%
63	Netherlands	3,739,000	-0.3%
64	Ecuador	3,723,196	-3.6%
65	Cuba	3,252,400	-7.5%
66	Dominican Republic Estimated	3,024,249	+0.2%
67	Namibia	3,017,636	-3.2%
68	Chile Estimated	2,980,974	-0.6%
69	Honduras Estimated	2,890,333	+0.4%
70	Morocco	2,883,867	-7%
71	Egypt	2,830,000	-8.4%
72	Cambodia Estimated	2,827,934	-0.2%
73	Tajikistan	2,685,900	+5.2%
74	Philippines	2,581,371	+0.1%
75	Laos	2,561,000	+5.5%
76	Turkmenistan	2,541,931	+0.8%
77	Benin	2,528,241	+9.3%
78	Mozambique	2,406,285	+3.7%
79	Azerbaijan	2,399,626	-3.9%
80	Ukraine	2,307,000	-12.7%
81	Ghana Estimated	2,291,077	+3%
82	Belgium	2,245,710	-1.8%
83	Malawi	2,187,583	+6.5%
84	Eritrea Estimated	2,152,019	+0.2%
85	Iraq	2,147,569	+2.1%
86	Yemen	1,971,872	+3.3%
87	Mauritania Estimated	1,969,172	+1.3%
88	Côte d’Ivoire	1,865,763	+1.6%
89	Austria	1,835,470	-1.4%
90	Democratic Republic of the Congo	1,832,468	+10.9%
91	Romania	1,814,700	-1%
92	Algeria Estimated	1,805,943	+4.1%
93	Kyrgyzstan	1,802,299	+1.1%
94	Costa Rica	1,550,368	+3.7%
95	Switzerland	1,528,595	+0.2%
96	Portugal	1,527,720	-3.3%
97	Haiti Estimated	1,521,825	+0.2%
98	Panama	1,518,656	+0.1%
99	Rwanda Estimated	1,453,264	+2%
100	Denmark	1,434,870	-2.1%
101	Czechia	1,369,590	-1.5%
102	Sweden	1,369,000	-1.5%
103	Burundi	1,225,237	+4.7%
104	Sri Lanka	1,122,370	-0.5%
105	Botswana Estimated	1,000,000	-9.1%
106	Norway	874,200	-2.7%
107	Hungary	869,700	-2.7%
108	Georgia	853,700	-8.1%
109	Syria	841,437	-1.3%
110	Finland	798,640	-2.8%
111	El Salvador Estimated	748,412	-1.3%
112	Guinea-Bissau Estimated	735,671	-0.8%
113	Malaysia	726,206	-0.3%
114	Serbia	725,408	-9.3%
115	Lesotho	670,022	+12.9%
116	Sierra Leone Estimated	667,117	+3.2%
117	Greece	638,800	+9.8%
118	Lithuania	623,520	-2.9%
119	Eswatini	613,475	+9.5%
120	Israel	580,059	-0.3%
121	Bulgaria	574,300	-1%
122	North Korea Estimated	571,586	+0.4%
123	Tunisia Estimated	519,700	+4.9%
124	Saudi Arabia	501,975	+60.9%
125	Armenia	501,862	-10.3%
126	Togo Estimated	477,885	+0.9%
127	Slovenia	456,050	-1.9%
128	Oman	438,225	+2%
129	Slovakia	429,720	-0.8%
130	Croatia	415,000	-1.7%
131	Latvia	368,060	-6%
132	Republic of the Congo Estimated	335,600	-0.1%
133	Bosnia and Herzegovina	330,119	-2.7%
134	Djibouti Estimated	316,306	+0.5%
135	Gambia	301,948	+7.3%
136	Albania	263,385	-11.5%
137	Bhutan	260,565	-32.1%
138	Timor-Leste Estimated	241,365	-4.4%
139	Estonia	241,360	-3.3%
140	Puerto Rico Estimated	222,198	+9.7%
141	Libya Estimated	211,263	-2.2%
142	Luxembourg	183,560	-1.4%
143	Taiwan Estimated	156,946	-0.8%
144	Jamaica Estimated	154,090	+0.1%
145	North Macedonia	148,693	-9.7%
146	United Arab Emirates	116,687	+5.4%
147	Moldova	101,030	-1.3%
148	Guyana Estimated	99,772	-0.9%
149	Belize Estimated	99,270	-0.3%
150	Papua New Guinea Estimated	91,119	-0.3%
151	Jordan	90,296	+10.8%
152	Vanuatu Estimated	88,793	-0.4%
153	Cyprus	82,270	+1%
154	Iceland	78,732	-0.7%
155	New Caledonia Estimated	78,102	-1%
156	Fiji	75,924	+6%
157	Lebanon	74,602	-7%
158	Montenegro	68,410	-1.3%
159	Comoros Estimated	51,337	+0.2%
160	Qatar	43,977	+5.8%
161	Liberia Estimated	43,147	+0.3%
162	Gabon Estimated	39,545	+0.3%
163	Samoa Estimated	38,042	-2%
164	Trinidad and Tobago Estimated	35,095	+0.7%
165	Suriname Estimated	32,190	-5.3%
166	Kuwait Estimated	31,972	-2.9%
167	Cape Verde	29,714	+0.2%
168	Micronesia Estimated	17,818	+1.8%
169	Solomon Islands Estimated	15,338	+0.3%
170	Malta	14,230	+0.2%
171	Dominica Estimated	13,874	-0%
172	Tonga Estimated	12,172	+0.2%
173	Barbados Estimated	11,378	+0.5%
174	Saint Lucia Estimated	10,505	-0.2%
175	French Polynesia Estimated	8,500	-15%
176	Bahrain	7,000	-2.8%
177	Grenada Estimated	5,548	-3%
178	Equatorial Guinea Estimated	5,499	+0.4%
179	Antigua and Barbuda Estimated	4,069	-1.4%
180	Mauritius	3,410	-2.9%
181	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Estimated	2,800	-10.3%
182	Faroe Islands	1,758	-14.2%
183	Saint Kitts and Nevis	1,739	-5%
184	Hong Kong Estimated	1,572	-0.1%
185	São Tomé and Príncipe Estimated	1,542	+3.1%
186	Bahamas Estimated	744	0%
187	Seychelles Estimated	517	-18.1%
188	Brunei	314	-14.4%
189	Cook Islands Estimated	231	+0.9%
190	Singapore Estimated	177	-0.6%
191	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. 5 countries with data in other periods have no value for 2023 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

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): Cattle, stocks, head (item 866, element 5111) (Countries by number of cattle, 2023) [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, 2023. 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=2023. 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, 2023. 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=2023.

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, 2023 [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=2023 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{food_countries_by_number_of_2023,
  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, 2023}},
  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=2023. 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, 2023
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=2023
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/cattle-population/countries?period=2023.
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 238,620,910 head in 2023, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Which country has the lowest number of cattle?

Niue, with 113 head in 2023.

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. 5 countries have no value for 2023 and are not ranked.

Number of cattle: other rankings

EU countries