Sheep — Stocks in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Sheep — Stocks was 3.18 million LSU in 2023. ▲ Rising

Latest (2023)
3.18 million LSU
Change on year
down 4.1%
World rank
15th
of 180 countries
All-time high
4.47 million LSU
in 1999
All-time low
1.99 million LSU
in 1977
Years of data
63
1961–2023

Sheep — Stocks in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 1961–2023

01.0M2.0M3.0M4.0M196119922023

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

Analysis

The most recent figure for sheep — stocks in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is 3.18 million LSU, measured in 2023.

The figure is down 4.1% on the previous year and down 3.2% over ten years.

Over the whole period, sheep — stocks in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland peaked at 4.47 million LSU in 1999 and was at its lowest, 1.99 million LSU, in 1977.

That places United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 15th out of 180 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.

Sheep — Stocks in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, year by year

Annual values for Sheep — Stocks in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 1961 to 2023.
Year LSU Change
1961 2.91 million LSU
1962 2.96 million LSU +1.8%
1963 2.95 million LSU -0.5%
1964 2.98 million LSU +1.1%
1965 3.00 million LSU +0.9%
1966 3.01 million LSU +0.2%
1967 2.90 million LSU -3.6%
1968 2.81 million LSU -3.0%
1969 2.67 million LSU -5.0%
1970 2.62 million LSU -2.0%
1971 2.61 million LSU -0.4%
1972 2.70 million LSU +3.4%
1973 2.80 million LSU +4.0%
1974 2.86 million LSU +2.0%
1975 2.84 million LSU -0.8%
1976 2.83 million LSU -0.3%
1977 1.99 million LSU -29.4%
1978 2.06 million LSU +3.1%
1979 2.17 million LSU +5.6%
1980 2.16 million LSU -0.5%
1981 2.16 million LSU -0.0%
1982 2.22 million LSU +2.8%
1983 2.29 million LSU +3.4%
1984 2.33 million LSU +1.6%
1985 2.39 million LSU +2.7%
1986 3.70 million LSU +54.6%
1987 3.88 million LSU +4.7%
1988 4.10 million LSU +5.8%
1989 4.30 million LSU +4.8%
1990 4.38 million LSU +1.9%
1991 4.36 million LSU -0.4%
1992 4.45 million LSU +2.1%
1993 4.44 million LSU -0.2%
1994 4.38 million LSU -1.4%
1995 4.33 million LSU -1.2%
1996 4.21 million LSU -2.8%
1997 4.28 million LSU +1.8%
1998 4.45 million LSU +3.8%
1999 4.47 million LSU +0.4%
2000 4.23 million LSU -5.4%
2001 3.67 million LSU -13.1%
2002 3.58 million LSU -2.4%
2003 3.58 million LSU +0.0%
2004 3.58 million LSU +0.0%
2005 3.53 million LSU -1.7%
2006 3.47 million LSU -1.5%
2007 3.39 million LSU -2.2%
2008 3.31 million LSU -2.4%
2009 3.14 million LSU -5.1%
2010 3.11 million LSU -1.1%
2011 3.16 million LSU +1.8%
2012 3.22 million LSU +1.8%
2013 3.29 million LSU +2.0%
2014 3.37 million LSU +2.7%
2015 3.33 million LSU -1.2%
2016 3.39 million LSU +1.8%
2017 3.48 million LSU +2.6%
2018 3.38 million LSU -3.0%
2019 3.36 million LSU -0.6%
2020 3.27 million LSU -2.6%
2021 3.30 million LSU +0.8%
2022 3.32 million LSU +0.7%
2023 3.18 million LSU -4.1%

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1960s 2.91 million LSU 2.67 million LSU 3.01 million LSU 9
1970s 2.55 million LSU 1.99 million LSU 2.86 million LSU 10
1980s 2.95 million LSU 2.16 million LSU 4.30 million LSU 10
1990s 4.38 million LSU 4.21 million LSU 4.47 million LSU 10
2000s 3.55 million LSU 3.14 million LSU 4.23 million LSU 10
2010s 3.31 million LSU 3.11 million LSU 3.48 million LSU 10
2020s 3.27 million LSU 3.18 million LSU 3.32 million LSU 4

Countries ranked near United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

  1. 12 Ethiopia 3.99 million LSU compare
  2. 12 Republic of Moldova 41,690 LSU compare
  3. 13 Democratic People's Republic of Korea 16,668 LSU compare
  4. 13 Pakistan 3.23 million LSU compare
  5. 14 Algeria 3.18 million LSU compare
  6. 14 Melanesia 4,888 LSU compare
  7. 15 Timor-Leste 2,030 LSU compare
  8. 16 Mongolia 2.94 million LSU compare
  9. 16 Polynesia 44.4 LSU compare
  10. 17 New Zealand 2.44 million LSU compare
  11. 18 Mali 2.33 million LSU compare

See the full ranking of 227 places →

More environment data for United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

All data for United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland →

Frequently asked questions

What is sheep — stocks in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?
Sheep — stocks in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was 3.18 million LSU in 2023, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
What is the highest sheep — stocks recorded in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?
The highest recorded value was 4.47 million LSU in 1999.
What is the lowest sheep — stocks recorded in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?
The lowest recorded value was 1.99 million LSU in 1977.
How does United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland rank for sheep — stocks?
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ranks 15th out of 180 countries with data for 2023.
Is sheep — stocks rising or falling in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?
Over the last ten years it is down 3.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 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).

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Sheep — Stocks in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Statizoid, drawing on Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Retrieved 09 September 2026, from https://environment.statizoid.com/stat/sheep-stocks/united-kingdom-of-great-britain-and-northern-ireland/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://environment.statizoid.com/stat/sheep-stocks/united-kingdom-of-great-britain-and-northern-ireland/">Sheep — Stocks in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland</a> — Statizoid

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

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.