What is sheep — stocks in Sub-Saharan Africa?

Sheep — stocks in Sub-Saharan Africa was 32.79 million LSU in 2023, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

What is the highest sheep — stocks recorded in Sub-Saharan Africa?

The highest recorded value was 32.79 million LSU in 2023.

What is the lowest sheep — stocks recorded in Sub-Saharan Africa?

The lowest recorded value was 10.12 million LSU in 1961.

How does Sub-Saharan Africa rank for sheep — stocks?

Sub-Saharan Africa ranks 6th out of 35 groups with data for 2023.

Is sheep — stocks rising or falling in Sub-Saharan Africa?

Over the last ten years it is up 32.9%. 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 — Stocks. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Sheep — Stocks in Sub-Saharan Africa

Name: Sheep — Stocks in Sub-Saharan Africa
Creator: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
License: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO)

Sub-Saharan Africa: Sheep — Stocks was 32.79 million LSU in 2023. ▲ Rising

Latest (2023)

32.79 million LSU

Change on year

up 4.2%

Rank

6th

of 35 groups

All-time high

32.79 million LSU

in 2023

All-time low

10.12 million LSU

in 1961

Years of data

1961–2023

Sheep — Stocks in Sub-Saharan Africa, 1961–2023

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in LSU.

Analysis

The most recent figure for sheep — stocks in Sub-Saharan Africa is 32.79 million LSU, measured in 2023. That is the highest value across all 63 years on record.

The figure is up 4.2% on the previous year and up 32.9% over ten years.

Over the whole period, sheep — stocks in Sub-Saharan Africa peaked at 32.79 million LSU in 2023 and was at its lowest, 10.12 million LSU, in 1961.

Sub-Saharan Africa ranks 6th of 35 groups on this measure, in the top quarter.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 63 years of available data.

Averages by decade

Decade	Average	Lowest	Highest	Years
1960s	10.92 million LSU	10.12 million LSU	11.70 million LSU	9
1970s	11.40 million LSU	10.85 million LSU	12.15 million LSU	10
1980s	13.00 million LSU	12.44 million LSU	14.18 million LSU	10
1990s	13.99 million LSU	12.79 million LSU	15.36 million LSU	10
2000s	18.07 million LSU	15.65 million LSU	20.65 million LSU	10
2010s	25.47 million LSU	21.02 million LSU	30.17 million LSU	10
2020s	31.59 million LSU	30.89 million LSU	32.79 million LSU	4

Countries ranked near Sub-Saharan Africa

3 China, mainland 19.30 million LSU compare
4 USSR 13.29 million LSU compare
5 Australia and New Zealand 9.65 million LSU compare
6 India 7.74 million LSU compare
7 Australia 7.21 million LSU compare
8 Sudan (former) 5.26 million LSU compare
9 Iran (Islamic Republic of) 5.20 million LSU compare

See the full ranking of 227 places →

More environment data for Sub-Saharan Africa

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)
Inland waters — Area 41,984 1000 ha (2024)
Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from Waste 13.02 Mt CO2e (2024)
Permanent meadows and pastures — Share in Agricultural land 72.81 % (2024)

All data for Sub-Saharan Africa →

Frequently asked questions

What is sheep — stocks in Sub-Saharan Africa?: Sheep — stocks in Sub-Saharan Africa was 32.79 million LSU in 2023, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
What is the highest sheep — stocks recorded in Sub-Saharan Africa?: The highest recorded value was 32.79 million LSU in 2023.
What is the lowest sheep — stocks recorded in Sub-Saharan Africa?: The lowest recorded value was 10.12 million LSU in 1961.
How does Sub-Saharan Africa rank for sheep — stocks?: Sub-Saharan Africa ranks 6th out of 35 groups with data for 2023.
Is sheep — stocks rising or falling in Sub-Saharan Africa?: Over the last ten years it is up 32.9%. 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 — Stocks. 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

Indicator: Sheep — Stocks
Unit: LSU
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO)
Coverage: 227 places, 12,936 data points, 1961–2023
Last refreshed: 12 August 2026

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.