Countries by number of chickens

China had the highest number of chickens of 194 countries in 2017, at 5,032,945,000 head. Nauru had the lowest, at 5,000 head. The median was 20,615,000 head and the figure for the World was 24,699,021,000 head. Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Highest5,032,945,000China

Lowest5,000Nauru

Median20,615,000194 countries

World24,699,021,000History

Map of countries, 2017

Under 10M
10M to 20M
20M to 50M
50M to 170M
170M and over
No data

head, 2017. Hatched areas have no value for this period. Source: FAOSTAT, Production: Crops and livestock products (QCL): Chickens, stocks, 1000 head (item 1057, element 5112). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

Top 40 countries, 2017

head. Source: FAOSTAT, Production: Crops and livestock products (QCL): Chickens, stocks, 1000 head (item 1057, element 5112). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	Countries	2017 head	Change on 2016
1	China Estimated	5,032,945,000	+3.2%
2	Indonesia	3,481,181,000	+66.7%
3	United States Estimated	1,486,000,000	+1.6%
4	Brazil	1,426,659,000	+5.9%
5	Pakistan	1,108,000,000	+11.4%
6	Iran Estimated	966,962,000	+1.2%
7	India Estimated	774,010,000	+2.2%
8	Mexico	556,128,000	+1.3%
9	Russia	505,768,000	+1.6%
10	Myanmar	349,171,000	+17.9%
11	Türkiye	342,801,000	+4.2%
12	Japan	313,823,000	+1.2%
13	Vietnam	295,209,000	+6.5%
14	Malaysia	293,302,000	+1.3%
15	Bangladesh	275,183,000	+2.5%
16	Thailand Estimated	270,998,000	-2%
17	France	244,774,000	+0.5%
18	Bolivia Estimated	207,236,000	+2.6%
19	Morocco Estimated	200,346,000	+1.1%
20	Saudi Arabia Estimated	190,634,000	+1.9%
21	Spain Estimated	187,784,000	+3.1%
22	Ukraine	184,336,000	-1.1%
23	Dominican Republic Estimated	184,000,000	+5.1%
24	Algeria Estimated	183,144,000	+6.2%
25	Nigeria	180,073,000	+7.5%
26	Poland	177,640,000	+5.1%
27	Philippines	175,317,000	-1.9%
28	United Kingdom	171,000,000	+6.2%
29	South Korea	170,551,000	+0.2%
30	Canada Estimated	168,609,000	+0.3%
31	South Africa Estimated	167,033,000	+1.9%
32	Colombia	163,830,000	+4.3%
33	Ecuador	160,556,000	+0.3%
34	Germany Estimated	160,000,000	+0.9%
35	Peru	156,638,000	-1%
36	Egypt Estimated	155,783,000	+3.3%
37	Italy Estimated	146,948,000	+3.3%
38	Venezuela Estimated	126,960,000	+0.9%
39	Argentina	118,300,000	+6.5%
40	Netherlands	105,184,000	-0.4%
41	Belarus Estimated	100,000,000	+4.8%
42	Australia	95,012,000	+5.5%
43	Taiwan	94,647,000	+4%
44	Tunisia Estimated	93,032,000	+2%
45	Romania	75,690,000	-3.8%
46	Ghana	75,363,000	+2%
47	Côte d’Ivoire Estimated	72,613,000	+5.6%
48	Nepal	70,007,000	+2%
49	Lebanon	68,876,000	+0.7%
50	Senegal Estimated	67,839,000	+7.5%
51	Yemen Estimated	65,000,000	0%
52	Uzbekistan Estimated	63,000,000	+3.8%
53	Ethiopia	56,056,000	-5.8%
54	Chile	54,779,000	+5.4%
55	Kuwait	53,012,000	+6.9%
56	Cameroon Estimated	51,100,000	+0.6%
57	Iraq	50,073,000	+11.9%
58	Sudan	48,584,000	+1.5%
59	Kenya	48,125,000	+9.9%
60	Uganda	47,578,000	+2.8%
61	Israel	46,287,000	+9.4%
62	Honduras Estimated	45,718,000	+0.3%
63	Mali	45,000,000	0%
64	Belgium	40,179,000	-5.6%
65	Zambia Estimated	39,147,000	+1.1%
66	Madagascar	38,717,000	+2.1%
67	Kazakhstan	38,376,000	+8.6%
68	Moldova Estimated	37,798,000	+2.9%
69	Tanzania Estimated	37,552,000	+1.3%
70	Greece	37,262,000	+4.8%
71	Portugal Estimated	37,228,000	+11.3%
72	Jordan Estimated	37,000,000	+6.6%
73	Laos	36,960,000	+5.1%
74	Guatemala Estimated	36,953,000	+2.9%
75	Burkina Faso	36,882,000	+3%
76	Trinidad and Tobago Estimated	36,764,000	+2.1%
77	Angola Estimated	36,500,000	+2.2%
78	Libya Estimated	34,789,000	+1.8%
79	Uruguay	32,788,000	-7.9%
80	Hungary	32,027,000	-1.2%
81	Guinea Estimated	31,802,000	+5.6%
82	Sweden	30,559,000	+2.7%
83	Azerbaijan	30,473,000	+8.8%
84	South Sudan Estimated	30,237,000	+18.2%
85	Guyana Estimated	27,145,000	+3.5%
86	Cuba	25,635,000	-18.2%
87	Panama	25,453,000	+6.5%
88	Costa Rica Estimated	24,876,000	+1.7%
89	Nicaragua Estimated	24,413,000	+2.7%
90	United Arab Emirates Estimated	23,841,000	+1.8%
91	New Zealand	23,763,000	+4.5%
92	Togo	22,545,000	+8%
93	Paraguay	22,316,000	+27.8%
94	Sierra Leone	21,523,000	+72.2%
95	Sri Lanka	21,276,000	+1%
96	Denmark	20,733,000	+15.8%
97	Benin	20,643,000	+3.2%
98	Czechia	20,587,000	+0.8%
99	Niger Estimated	19,071,000	+3.3%
100	Turkmenistan	18,790,000	+4.2%
101	Malawi Estimated	18,538,000	+1.3%
102	Democratic Republic of the Congo	18,395,000	-4.3%
103	Bulgaria	17,738,000	+24.4%
104	Mozambique	17,528,000	+1.1%
105	El Salvador Estimated	17,255,000	+2.2%
106	Brunei	17,051,000	-2.6%
107	Austria Estimated	16,736,000	-0.1%
108	Serbia	16,338,000	+4%
109	Bosnia and Herzegovina	16,282,000	+8.1%
110	Norway	15,643,000	+12.4%
111	Zimbabwe Estimated	15,551,000	+4.7%
112	Syria	15,542,000	-3.8%
113	Ireland Estimated	15,504,000	+0.4%
114	North Korea	15,393,000	+0.5%
115	Mauritius Estimated	15,215,000	+1.9%
116	Qatar Estimated	15,000,000	0%
117	Jamaica Estimated	13,840,000	+0.6%
118	Afghanistan	13,573,000	+14.1%
119	Cambodia Estimated	13,203,000	+0.6%
120	Finland	12,266,000	-1%
121	Slovakia	11,806,000	-5.7%
122	Switzerland	11,409,000	+4.7%
123	Lithuania	9,917,000	+8.4%
124	Croatia	9,840,000	+6.7%
125	Puerto Rico Estimated	9,645,000	-1.7%
126	Georgia	8,046,000	-3.2%
127	Liberia Estimated	7,875,000	+1.2%
128	Albania	7,835,000	+2.6%
129	Palestine	7,302,000	-8%
130	Central African Republic Estimated	6,787,000	+0.5%
131	Suriname	6,023,000	+21.3%
132	Chad Estimated	5,862,000	0%
133	Haiti Estimated	5,774,000	+0.5%
134	Rwanda	5,273,000	+0.7%
135	Fiji Estimated	5,259,000	+1.7%
136	Tajikistan	5,217,000	+3.3%
137	Latvia Estimated	4,774,000	+6.5%
138	Barbados Estimated	4,772,000	+6%
139	Oman Estimated	4,711,000	+0.9%
140	Namibia Estimated	4,659,000	+4.8%
141	Mauritania Estimated	4,631,000	+0.5%
142	Papua New Guinea Estimated	4,524,000	+1.4%
143	Kyrgyzstan	4,415,000	+3.8%
144	Hong Kong	4,199,000	+3.9%
145	Armenia	3,814,000	-3.3%
146	Somalia Estimated	3,752,000	+0.7%
147	Singapore Estimated	3,668,000	+1.8%
148	Slovenia	3,639,000	+4.6%
149	Cyprus Estimated	3,428,000	+12.4%
150	Gabon Estimated	3,257,000	+0.6%
151	Bahamas Estimated	3,164,000	+3.3%
152	Republic of the Congo Estimated	2,883,000	+0.6%
153	Burundi Estimated	2,673,000	-5.9%
154	Estonia	2,195,000	+6.9%
155	Guinea-Bissau Estimated	2,008,000	-2.1%
156	North Macedonia	1,840,000	-1.4%
157	Belize Estimated	1,636,000	+0.5%
158	Eswatini	1,535,000	+28.6%
159	Bahrain Estimated	1,361,000	+6.2%
160	Eritrea Estimated	1,315,000	+0.5%
161	Bhutan	1,068,000	+2.9%
162	Gambia Estimated	1,049,000	-8.9%
163	Malta Estimated	1,004,000	-2%
164	Cape Verde Estimated	1,000,000	0%
165	Timor-Leste Estimated	950,000	+1.5%
166	Macao Estimated	767,000	+1.7%
167	Montenegro	722,000	-0.1%
168	Botswana	710,000	-29.8%
169	Mongolia	695,000	-3.3%
170	Kiribati Estimated	632,000	+1.3%
171	New Caledonia Estimated	547,000	+1.1%
172	Comoros Estimated	535,000	+0.8%
173	Vanuatu Estimated	519,000	+0.8%
174	Saint Lucia Estimated	462,000	+0.9%
174	Samoa Estimated	462,000	-4.5%
176	Lesotho	433,000	+48.3%
177	Grenada Estimated	384,000	+0.3%
178	Equatorial Guinea Estimated	366,000	+0.5%
179	Tonga Estimated	333,000	+0.6%
180	French Polynesia Estimated	321,000	+1.9%
181	São Tomé and Príncipe	284,000	+0.4%
182	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Estimated	250,000	0%
183	Solomon Islands Estimated	243,000	+0.4%
184	Iceland	230,000	+1.8%
185	Dominica Estimated	200,000	0%
186	Micronesia Estimated	190,000	0%
187	Antigua and Barbuda Estimated	157,000	+0.6%
188	Seychelles Estimated	130,000	-3%
189	Luxembourg	123,000	+7.9%
190	Tuvalu Estimated	53,000	-1.9%
191	Cook Islands Estimated	35,000	0%
192	Niue Estimated	18,000	0%
193	Saint Kitts and Nevis Estimated	15,000	-82.8%
194	Nauru Estimated	5,000	0%

Other periods

About this ranking

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.

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 2017 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): 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) (Countries by number of chickens, 2017) [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), Countries by number of chickens, 2017. 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/chicken-population/countries?period=2017. 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). Countries by number of chickens, 2017. 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/chicken-population/countries?period=2017.

Harvard

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) Production: Crops and livestock products (QCL): Chickens, stocks, 1000 head (item 1057, element 5112), Countries by number of chickens, 2017 [Dataset]. Available at: https://bulks-faostat.fao.org/production/Production_Crops_Livestock_E_All_Data_%28Normalized%29.zip, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/chicken-population/countries?period=2017 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{food_countries_by_number_of_2017,
  author = {{Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations}},
  title = {{Production: Crops and livestock products (QCL): Chickens, stocks, 1000 head (item 1057, element 5112): Countries by number of chickens, 2017}},
  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/chicken-population/countries?period=2017. 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): Countries by number of chickens, 2017
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/chicken-population/countries?period=2017
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/chicken-population/countries?period=2017.
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

Which country has the highest number of chickens?

China, with 5,032,945,000 head in 2017, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Which country has the lowest number of chickens?

Nauru, with 5,000 head in 2017.

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): Chickens, stocks, 1000 head (item 1057, element 5112). Retrieved 2026-10-12. 4 countries have no value for 2017 and are not ranked.

Number of chickens: other rankings

EU countries