Cattle — Livestock units per agricultural land area in New Zealand
New Zealand: Cattle — Livestock units per agricultural land area was 0.88 LSU/ha in 2023. ▲ Rising
Cattle — Livestock units per agricultural land area in New Zealand, 1961–2023
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in LSU/ha.
Analysis
In 2023, cattle — livestock units per agricultural land area in New Zealand stood at 0.88 LSU/ha.
That represents a change of down 2.2% on the previous year and up 6.0% over ten years.
Over the whole period, cattle — livestock units per agricultural land area in New Zealand peaked at 0.9 LSU/ha in 2021 and was at its lowest, 0.44 LSU/ha, in 1961.
That places New Zealand 13th out of 190 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 63 years of available data.
Cattle — Livestock units per agricultural land area in New Zealand, year by year
| Year | LSU/ha | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1961 | 0.44 LSU/ha | — |
| 1962 | 0.45 LSU/ha | +2.3% |
| 1963 | 0.45 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1964 | 0.45 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1965 | 0.46 LSU/ha | +2.2% |
| 1966 | 0.49 LSU/ha | +6.5% |
| 1967 | 0.53 LSU/ha | +8.2% |
| 1968 | 0.56 LSU/ha | +5.7% |
| 1969 | 0.59 LSU/ha | +5.4% |
| 1970 | 0.6 LSU/ha | +1.7% |
| 1971 | 0.55 LSU/ha | -8.3% |
| 1972 | 0.58 LSU/ha | +5.5% |
| 1973 | 0.6 LSU/ha | +3.4% |
| 1974 | 0.62 LSU/ha | +3.3% |
| 1975 | 0.6 LSU/ha | -3.2% |
| 1976 | 0.57 LSU/ha | -5.0% |
| 1977 | 0.55 LSU/ha | -3.5% |
| 1978 | 0.52 LSU/ha | -5.5% |
| 1979 | 0.5 LSU/ha | -3.8% |
| 1980 | 0.5 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1981 | 0.48 LSU/ha | -4.0% |
| 1982 | 0.49 LSU/ha | +2.1% |
| 1983 | 0.47 LSU/ha | -4.1% |
| 1984 | 0.48 LSU/ha | +2.1% |
| 1985 | 0.5 LSU/ha | +4.2% |
| 1986 | 0.52 LSU/ha | +4.0% |
| 1987 | 0.5 LSU/ha | -3.8% |
| 1988 | 0.51 LSU/ha | +2.0% |
| 1989 | 0.5 LSU/ha | -2.0% |
| 1990 | 0.52 LSU/ha | +4.0% |
| 1991 | 0.53 LSU/ha | +1.9% |
| 1992 | 0.54 LSU/ha | +1.9% |
| 1993 | 0.56 LSU/ha | +3.7% |
| 1994 | 0.6 LSU/ha | +7.1% |
| 1995 | 0.64 LSU/ha | +6.7% |
| 1996 | 0.63 LSU/ha | -1.6% |
| 1997 | 0.64 LSU/ha | +1.6% |
| 1998 | 0.63 LSU/ha | -1.6% |
| 1999 | 0.65 LSU/ha | +3.2% |
| 2000 | 0.66 LSU/ha | +1.5% |
| 2001 | 0.69 LSU/ha | +4.5% |
| 2002 | 0.72 LSU/ha | +4.3% |
| 2003 | 0.74 LSU/ha | +2.8% |
| 2004 | 0.73 LSU/ha | -1.4% |
| 2005 | 0.73 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 2006 | 0.76 LSU/ha | +4.1% |
| 2007 | 0.76 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 2008 | 0.77 LSU/ha | +1.3% |
| 2009 | 0.78 LSU/ha | +1.3% |
| 2010 | 0.78 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 2011 | 0.79 LSU/ha | +1.3% |
| 2012 | 0.82 LSU/ha | +3.8% |
| 2013 | 0.83 LSU/ha | +1.2% |
| 2014 | 0.84 LSU/ha | +1.2% |
| 2015 | 0.84 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 2016 | 0.86 LSU/ha | +2.4% |
| 2017 | 0.86 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 2018 | 0.87 LSU/ha | +1.2% |
| 2019 | 0.88 LSU/ha | +1.1% |
| 2020 | 0.89 LSU/ha | +1.1% |
| 2021 | 0.9 LSU/ha | +1.1% |
| 2022 | 0.9 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 2023 | 0.88 LSU/ha | -2.2% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 0.4911 LSU/ha | 0.44 LSU/ha | 0.59 LSU/ha | 9 |
| 1970s | 0.569 LSU/ha | 0.5 LSU/ha | 0.62 LSU/ha | 10 |
| 1980s | 0.495 LSU/ha | 0.47 LSU/ha | 0.52 LSU/ha | 10 |
| 1990s | 0.594 LSU/ha | 0.52 LSU/ha | 0.65 LSU/ha | 10 |
| 2000s | 0.734 LSU/ha | 0.66 LSU/ha | 0.78 LSU/ha | 10 |
| 2010s | 0.837 LSU/ha | 0.78 LSU/ha | 0.88 LSU/ha | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.8925 LSU/ha | 0.88 LSU/ha | 0.9 LSU/ha | 4 |
Countries ranked near New Zealand
- 10 Ethiopia 0.92 LSU/ha compare
- 10 Switzerland 0.92 LSU/ha compare
- 12 Costa Rica 0.91 LSU/ha compare
- 14 Norway 0.8 LSU/ha compare
- 14 Puerto Rico 0.8 LSU/ha compare
- 16 Japan 0.79 LSU/ha compare
More environment data for New Zealand
- Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly -0.2131 Percentage change (2025)
- Historical exposure to drought — Cropland soil moisture anomaly 1.69 Percentage change (2025)
- Standard Deviation, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Standard Deviation 0.379 °C (2025)
- Temperature change 1.23 °C (2025)
- Plywood and LVL — Import quantity, annual growth rate 18.42 % change on previous year (2024)
- Plywood and LVL — Import quantity, per unit of GDP 0 m3 per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Plywood and LVL — Import quantity, per capita 0.0255 m3 per person (2024)
- Plywood and LVL — Import value, annual growth rate 2.89 % change on previous year (2024)
- Plywood and LVL — Import value, per unit of GDP 0 1000 USD per US$ of GDP (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is cattle — livestock units per agricultural land area in New Zealand?
- Cattle — livestock units per agricultural land area in New Zealand was 0.88 LSU/ha in 2023, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
- What is the highest cattle — livestock units per agricultural land area recorded in New Zealand?
- The highest recorded value was 0.9 LSU/ha in 2021.
- What is the lowest cattle — livestock units per agricultural land area recorded in New Zealand?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.44 LSU/ha in 1961.
- How does New Zealand rank for cattle — livestock units per agricultural land area?
- New Zealand ranks 13th out of 190 countries with data for 2023.
- Is cattle — livestock units per agricultural land area rising or falling in New Zealand?
- Over the last ten years it is up 6.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this New Zealand data come from?
- The figures come from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, published as part of Cattle — Livestock units per agricultural land area. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 63 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO).
About this data
The Livestock Patterns domain of FAOSTAT contains data on livestock numbers, shares of major livestock species and densities of livestock units in the agricultural land area. Values are calculated using Livestock Units (LSU), which facilitate aggregating information for different livestock types. Data are available by country, with global coverage, for the period 1961 to the most recent year available with annual updates. This methodology applies the LSU coefficients reported in the "Guidelines for the preparation of livestock sector reviews" (FAO, 2011). From this publication, LSU coefficients are computed by livestock type and by country. The reference unit used for the calculation of livestock units (=1 LSU) is the grazing equivalent of one adult dairy cow producing 3000 kg of milk annually, fed without additional concentrated foodstuffs. FAOSTAT agri-environmental indicators on livestock patterns closely follow the structure of the indicators in EUROSTAT.