Sheep — Livestock units per agricultural land area in Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa: Sheep — Livestock units per agricultural land area was 0.03 LSU/ha in 2023. ▲ Rising
Sheep — Livestock units per agricultural land area in Sub-Saharan Africa, 1961–2023
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in LSU/ha.
Analysis
Sub-Saharan Africa recorded 0.03 LSU/ha for sheep — livestock units per agricultural land area in 2023. That is the highest value across all 63 years on record.
That represents a change of unchanged over ten years.
Over the whole period, sheep — livestock units per agricultural land area in Sub-Saharan Africa peaked at 0.03 LSU/ha in 2012 and was at its lowest, 0.01 LSU/ha, in 1961.
Sub-Saharan Africa ranks 10th of 31 groups on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 63 years of available data.
Sheep — Livestock units per agricultural land area in Sub-Saharan Africa, year by year
| Year | LSU/ha | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1961 | 0.01 LSU/ha | — |
| 1962 | 0.01 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1963 | 0.01 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1964 | 0.01 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1965 | 0.01 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1966 | 0.01 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1967 | 0.01 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1968 | 0.01 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1969 | 0.01 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1970 | 0.01 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1971 | 0.01 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1972 | 0.01 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1973 | 0.01 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1974 | 0.01 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1975 | 0.01 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1976 | 0.01 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1977 | 0.01 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1978 | 0.01 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1979 | 0.01 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1980 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +100.0% |
| 1981 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1982 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1983 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1984 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1985 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1986 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1987 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1988 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1989 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1990 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1991 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1992 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1993 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1994 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1995 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1996 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1997 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1998 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 1999 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 2000 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 2001 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 2002 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 2003 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 2004 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 2005 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 2006 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 2007 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 2008 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 2009 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 2010 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 2011 | 0.02 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 2012 | 0.03 LSU/ha | +50.0% |
| 2013 | 0.03 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 2014 | 0.03 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 2015 | 0.03 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 2016 | 0.03 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 2017 | 0.03 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 2018 | 0.03 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 2019 | 0.03 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 2020 | 0.03 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 2021 | 0.03 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 2022 | 0.03 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
| 2023 | 0.03 LSU/ha | +0.0% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 0.01 LSU/ha | 0.01 LSU/ha | 0.01 LSU/ha | 9 |
| 1970s | 0.01 LSU/ha | 0.01 LSU/ha | 0.01 LSU/ha | 10 |
| 1980s | 0.02 LSU/ha | 0.02 LSU/ha | 0.02 LSU/ha | 10 |
| 1990s | 0.02 LSU/ha | 0.02 LSU/ha | 0.02 LSU/ha | 10 |
| 2000s | 0.02 LSU/ha | 0.02 LSU/ha | 0.02 LSU/ha | 10 |
| 2010s | 0.028 LSU/ha | 0.02 LSU/ha | 0.03 LSU/ha | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.03 LSU/ha | 0.03 LSU/ha | 0.03 LSU/ha | 4 |
Countries ranked near Sub-Saharan Africa
- 7 New Zealand 0.25 LSU/ha compare
- 8 Norway 0.22 LSU/ha compare
- 8 Saint Kitts and Nevis 0.22 LSU/ha compare
- 10 Palestine, State of 0.2 LSU/ha compare
- 11 Timor-Leste 0.01 LSU/ha compare
- 11 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 0.19 LSU/ha compare
- 12 Malta 0.17 LSU/ha compare
- 13 Democratic Republic of the Congo 0 LSU/ha
- 13 Greece 0.15 LSU/ha compare
More environment data for Sub-Saharan Africa
- Standard Deviation, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Historical exposure to drought — Cropland soil moisture anomaly -6.36 Percentage change (2025)
- Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly -7.11 Percentage change (2025)
- Standard Deviation 0.223 °C (2025)
- Temperature change 1.21 °C (2025)
- Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF 305.43 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Aquaculture production 904,662 metric tons (2024)
- Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from Power Industry (Energy) 2.29 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from Transport (Energy) 2.96 Mt CO2e (2024)
- Permanent meadows and pastures — Area 704,021 1000 ha (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is sheep — livestock units per agricultural land area in Sub-Saharan Africa?
- Sheep — livestock units per agricultural land area in Sub-Saharan Africa was 0.03 LSU/ha in 2023, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
- What is the highest sheep — livestock units per agricultural land area recorded in Sub-Saharan Africa?
- The highest recorded value was 0.03 LSU/ha in 2012.
- What is the lowest sheep — livestock units per agricultural land area recorded in Sub-Saharan Africa?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.01 LSU/ha in 1961.
- How does Sub-Saharan Africa rank for sheep — livestock units per agricultural land area?
- Sub-Saharan Africa ranks 10th out of 31 groups with data for 2023.
- Is sheep — livestock units per agricultural land area rising or falling in Sub-Saharan Africa?
- Over the last ten years it is unchanged. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Sub-Saharan Africa data come from?
- The figures come from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, published as part of Sheep — 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.