Countries by number of chickens

China had the highest number of chickens of 183 countries in 2021, at 5,212,725,000 head. Nauru had the lowest, at 5,000 head. The median was 22,054,000 head and the figure for the World was 26,128,374,000 head. Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Highest5,212,725,000China

Lowest5,000Nauru

Median22,054,000183 countries

World26,128,374,000History

Map of countries, 2021

Under 10M
10M to 30M
30M to 50M
50M to 180M
180M and over
No data

head, 2021. 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, 2021

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	2021 head	Change on 2020
1	China Estimated	5,212,725,000	+0.2%
2	Indonesia	3,195,600,000	-10.5%
3	Pakistan	1,578,000,000	+9.4%
4	Brazil	1,528,032,000	+3.4%
5	United States Estimated	1,522,000,000	-1%
6	Iran Estimated	1,026,412,000	+3.2%
7	India Estimated	828,366,000	+0.9%
8	Mexico	604,682,000	+2.2%
9	Russia	472,674,000	-4.9%
10	Vietnam Estimated	427,059,000	+4.3%
11	Türkiye	391,394,000	+3.2%
12	Japan	323,031,000	+1.2%
13	Bangladesh	304,106,000	+2.5%
14	Malaysia	285,352,000	-2.8%
15	Thailand Estimated	278,876,000	-0.8%
16	Egypt Estimated	270,000,000	+8%
17	Nigeria	240,481,000	+7.5%
18	France	239,840,000	-0.9%
19	Bolivia Estimated	224,897,000	+1.4%
20	Colombia	222,131,000	+5.5%
21	Morocco Estimated	219,012,000	+2.7%
22	Dominican Republic	212,800,000	+18.9%
23	Saudi Arabia Estimated	210,621,000	+3.1%
24	Algeria Estimated	198,102,000	+8%
25	Peru	189,375,000	+10.7%
26	Ukraine	183,543,000	-9.4%
27	United Kingdom	180,000,000	+4.7%
28	South Africa Estimated	177,561,000	0%
29	South Korea	177,194,000	-0.7%
30	Ecuador Estimated	176,856,000	+5.8%
31	Philippines	176,820,000	-0.8%
32	Canada Estimated	171,777,000	+0.9%
33	Poland	168,629,000	-13.9%
34	Iraq	144,702,000	+84.3%
35	Venezuela Estimated	126,120,000	-1.9%
36	Myanmar	117,243,000	+19.5%
37	Argentina	115,536,000	-2.5%
38	Australia	111,189,000	+10.2%
39	Belarus Estimated	105,000,000	+1.2%
40	Côte d’Ivoire	104,083,000	+16.3%
41	Tunisia Estimated	101,669,000	+2.5%
42	Taiwan	100,232,000	-2%
43	Netherlands	99,887,000	-1.9%
44	Senegal	92,805,000	+8.9%
45	Ghana	81,487,000	-0.3%
46	Uzbekistan Estimated	77,932,000	+9.4%
47	Romania	77,148,000	+4.4%
48	Lebanon Estimated	73,627,000	+0.4%
49	Nepal	73,418,000	-11.1%
50	Uganda	70,840,000	+60.3%
51	Yemen Estimated	68,261,000	+1.3%
52	Kenya	59,020,000	+3.2%
53	Chile	57,476,000	+3.7%
54	Kuwait	57,370,000	+3.4%
55	Mali	54,703,000	+5%
56	Belgium	53,188,000	-0.3%
57	Ethiopia Estimated	53,112,000	-6.8%
58	Sudan Estimated	51,477,000	+1.4%
59	Cameroon Estimated	50,000,000	+150%
60	Laos	48,052,000	+3.1%
61	Honduras Estimated	47,931,000	+4.5%
62	Israel	47,093,000	-7.9%
63	Guatemala Estimated	47,000,000	0%
64	Kazakhstan	46,174,000	+10.8%
65	Uruguay Estimated	43,675,000	-2.3%
66	Angola Estimated	43,615,000	+20.3%
67	Moldova Estimated	43,301,000	+1.1%
68	Zambia Estimated	41,208,000	+1.6%
69	Jordan Estimated	41,000,000	+13.9%
70	Madagascar Estimated	40,482,000	-1.6%
71	Trinidad and Tobago Estimated	40,256,000	+2.3%
72	Greece	36,597,000	+7.5%
73	Libya	36,160,000	-1.1%
74	South Sudan Estimated	35,000,000	0%
75	Guinea Estimated	34,874,000	+4.5%
76	Tanzania Estimated	33,647,000	+17%
77	Burkina Faso	32,201,000	-28.5%
78	Togo	32,001,000	+12.7%
79	Guyana Estimated	30,535,000	+4.2%
80	Cuba	29,875,000	-1.2%
81	Azerbaijan	29,624,000	-1.8%
82	Hungary	28,888,000	-6.4%
83	Panama	27,771,000	+8.5%
84	Nicaragua Estimated	26,924,000	+3%
85	Paraguay	26,238,000	+6%
86	New Zealand	25,675,000	+3.3%
87	United Arab Emirates Estimated	24,967,000	+1.4%
88	Sri Lanka	24,311,000	+0.1%
89	Costa Rica Estimated	24,290,000	-2.5%
90	Mozambique	23,888,000	+15%
91	Sierra Leone Estimated	23,499,000	+11.6%
92	Qatar	22,054,000	-26.5%
93	Brunei	21,596,000	+11.1%
94	Denmark	21,454,000	+1%
95	Niger Estimated	20,764,000	+0.3%
96	Turkmenistan	20,674,000	+0.3%
97	Malawi Estimated	19,754,000	+1.5%
98	El Salvador Estimated	18,856,000	+3.1%
99	Democratic Republic of the Congo	18,793,000	+0.6%
100	Zimbabwe Estimated	18,029,000	+11.3%
101	North Korea Estimated	17,152,000	+2.8%
102	Syria	16,686,000	-11%
103	Norway	16,336,000	+14.9%
104	Mauritius Estimated	16,194,000	+0.4%
105	Benin	16,020,000	+14.4%
106	Serbia	15,122,000	+1.3%
107	Jamaica Estimated	14,233,000	+2.5%
108	Afghanistan Estimated	13,443,000	+3.8%
109	Cambodia Estimated	13,211,000	-1.1%
110	Finland	12,707,000	-0.1%
111	Switzerland	12,568,000	+1.1%
112	Croatia	11,629,000	-7%
113	Tajikistan	11,118,000	+13.6%
114	Slovakia	10,136,000	-22.9%
115	Georgia	9,980,000	+7.3%
116	Bosnia and Herzegovina	8,727,000	-47.6%
117	Liberia Estimated	8,276,000	+1.2%
118	Lithuania	8,124,000	-17.5%
119	Central African Republic Estimated	6,860,000	-0.4%
120	Palestine	6,540,000	-11.9%
121	Suriname	6,277,000	+8.7%
122	Chad Estimated	6,117,000	+1.5%
123	Puerto Rico Estimated	6,000,000	-17.3%
124	Haiti Estimated	5,938,000	+0.9%
125	Latvia	5,858,000	+3.8%
126	Fiji Estimated	5,639,000	+2%
127	Albania	5,249,000	-22.5%
128	Barbados Estimated	5,152,000	-3.2%
129	Oman Estimated	4,845,000	+0.3%
130	Papua New Guinea Estimated	4,763,000	+1.5%
131	Mauritania Estimated	4,750,000	+0.7%
132	Slovenia	4,671,000	-19%
133	Kyrgyzstan	4,593,000	-1.7%
134	Hong Kong	4,335,000	-1.3%
135	Namibia Estimated	4,242,000	-1.2%
136	Armenia	4,204,000	-4.4%
137	Somalia Estimated	3,928,000	+2.1%
138	Rwanda Estimated	3,591,000	-16.3%
139	Gabon Estimated	3,353,000	+1.1%
140	Bahamas Estimated	3,305,000	0%
141	Republic of the Congo Estimated	3,035,000	+2.6%
142	Singapore Estimated	2,946,000	-10%
143	Burundi	2,913,000	-38.9%
144	Guinea-Bissau Estimated	2,051,000	-1.6%
145	Estonia	2,032,000	-1.1%
146	Eswatini Estimated	1,872,000	+9.1%
147	Belize Estimated	1,694,000	+1.7%
148	Bahrain Estimated	1,503,000	+0.2%
149	North Macedonia	1,484,000	-9.7%
150	Bhutan	1,384,000	0%
151	Eritrea Estimated	1,246,000	-2.5%
152	Mongolia	1,150,000	+16.8%
153	Gambia	994,000	+1.2%
154	Timor-Leste	856,000	-11.8%
155	Botswana Estimated	824,000	-3.9%
156	Macao Estimated	811,000	+3%
157	Lesotho	752,000	+53.5%
158	Cape Verde Estimated	690,000	+6.2%
159	Kiribati Estimated	659,000	+0.6%
160	New Caledonia Estimated	612,000	+3.9%
161	Montenegro	587,000	0%
162	Comoros Estimated	548,000	+0.9%
163	Saint Lucia Estimated	478,000	+2.4%
164	Vanuatu Estimated	467,000	-7.2%
165	Samoa Estimated	426,000	-1.2%
166	Equatorial Guinea Estimated	382,000	+1.9%
167	Grenada Estimated	350,000	-8.6%
168	Tonga Estimated	344,000	+1.5%
169	French Polynesia Estimated	334,000	+0.6%
170	São Tomé and Príncipe Estimated	279,000	-4.8%
171	Solomon Islands Estimated	247,000	+0.8%
172	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Estimated	246,000	-0.4%
173	Seychelles Estimated	230,000	+43.8%
174	Iceland	220,000	-0.9%
175	Dominica Estimated	203,000	+1%
176	Micronesia Estimated	192,000	0%
177	Luxembourg	171,000	+25.7%
178	Antigua and Barbuda Estimated	159,000	+1.9%
179	Tuvalu Estimated	55,000	-1.8%
180	Cook Islands Estimated	35,000	+6.1%
181	Saint Kitts and Nevis Estimated	20,000	+100%
182	Niue Estimated	19,000	0%
183	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. 15 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): 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, 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): Chickens, stocks, 1000 head (item 1057, element 5112), Countries by number of chickens, 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/chicken-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): Chickens, stocks, 1000 head (item 1057, element 5112). Countries by number of chickens, 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/chicken-population/countries?period=2021.

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, 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/chicken-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): Chickens, stocks, 1000 head (item 1057, element 5112): Countries by number of chickens, 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/chicken-population/countries?period=2021. 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, 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/chicken-population/countries?period=2021
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/chicken-population/countries?period=2021.
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 5,212,725,000 head in 2021, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Which country has the lowest number of chickens?

Nauru, with 5,000 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): Chickens, stocks, 1000 head (item 1057, element 5112). Retrieved 2026-10-12. 15 countries have no value for 2021 and are not ranked.

Number of chickens: other rankings

EU countries