EU countries by number of cattle

France had the highest number of cattle of 27 EU countries in 2016, at 19,373,382 head. Malta had the lowest, at 14,356 head. The median was 1,415,658 head. Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Highest19,373,382France

Lowest14,356Malta

Median1,415,65827 EU countries

Map of EU countries, 2016

Under 400K
400K to 800K
800K to 1.6M
1.6M to 5.6M
5.6M and over

head, 2016. Source: FAOSTAT, Production: Crops and livestock products (QCL): Cattle, stocks, head (item 866, element 5111). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2016

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

Full ranking

Rank	EU countries	2016 head	Change on 2015
1	France	19,373,382	-0.1%
2	Germany	12,466,586	-1.3%
3	Ireland	7,221,200	+3.7%
4	Spain	6,257,057	+1.2%
5	Poland	5,939,046	-0.4%
6	Italy	5,929,767	+2.6%
7	Netherlands	4,294,000	-0.5%
8	Belgium	2,501,349	-0.1%
9	Romania	2,092,414	+1.1%
10	Austria	1,957,610	-0.2%
11	Portugal	1,635,000	+1.8%
12	Denmark	1,568,288	+1.1%
13	Sweden	1,436,050	+0.5%
14	Czechia	1,415,658	+0.6%
15	Finland	909,021	-0.6%
16	Hungary	821,000	+2.4%
17	Lithuania	722,602	-1.9%
18	Greece	608,857	+0.4%
19	Bulgaria	550,201	-0.5%
20	Slovenia	484,192	+3.4%
21	Slovakia	457,586	-1.7%
22	Croatia	444,613	+1%
23	Latvia	419,084	-0.7%
24	Estonia	248,236	-6.2%
25	Luxembourg	201,416	+0.2%
26	Cyprus	63,147	+7.8%
27	Malta	14,356	-4.4%

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 EU countries are compared on one definition. 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) (EU countries by number of cattle, 2016) [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), EU countries by number of cattle, 2016. 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/eu-countries?period=2016. 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). EU countries by number of cattle, 2016. 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/eu-countries?period=2016.

Harvard

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) Production: Crops and livestock products (QCL): Cattle, stocks, head (item 866, element 5111), EU countries by number of cattle, 2016 [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/eu-countries?period=2016 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{food_eu_countries_by_number_2016,
  author = {{Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations}},
  title = {{Production: Crops and livestock products (QCL): Cattle, stocks, head (item 866, element 5111): EU countries by number of cattle, 2016}},
  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/eu-countries?period=2016. 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): EU countries by number of cattle, 2016
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/eu-countries?period=2016
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/cattle-population/eu-countries?period=2016.
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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Rank EU countries by number of cattle using official data, and cite the source.

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Questions

Which EU country has the highest number of cattle?

France, with 19,373,382 head in 2016, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Which EU country has the lowest number of cattle?

Malta, with 14,356 head in 2016.

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.

Number of cattle: other rankings

Countries