The following graph illustrates the UK pig breeding herd between June 1981 and June 2006. It shows clearly the sharp fall since December 1997, the herd having reduced by over a third during that period. The increase between December 2000 and June 2001 is thought to be due to sows being retained for breeding due to movement restrictions and the lack of an export market for cull sows as a result of the Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak.

There was little change in the national sow herd in June 2004, in contrast to the declines in other years. The provisional June 2006 census results show a slight increase in the breeding herd compared to 2005. Pigs for slaughtering also rose slightly to 4,379 thousand head.

EU pig populations

There is only one common period for pig population surveys across the EU – November/December. However, the main pig producing Member States must survey their pig populations at least twice each year, with no more than six months between survey dates. The latest results are shown in the tables below. The Eurostat definition of breeding sows includes sows and gilts in pig, other sows for breeding and intended gilts. EU Member States were showing little change in the number of breeding sows at their latest surveys.

The following chart shows the proportion of total pigs in each EU 15 Member State as at November/December 2005, the latest date for which figures for all EU 15 states are available.

Pig Populations in New Member Countries

As part of the process of applying for membership of the EU the new member countries had to work on bringing their systems for monitoring the agricultural industry into line with EU requirements. For some countries this involved the collection of new, or improved, statistical information. As a result of this there may have been significant changes to the methodologies used in each country over time. However, the following table shows the estimated total number of pigs in the new member countries at December of each year from 1993 onwards.

All new member countries now provide figures. Overall there were over 29 million pigs in total across the new member countries, over half of which are in Poland, compared with 123 million pigs in the EU-15 Member countries. In comparison with the EU-15 member countries, only Spain and Germany had larger pig populations than Poland at December 2005.

UK/EU Pig Statistics

Further Information