The gross indigenous production (GIP) of bovine animals in the EU is expected to increase to 12.1 million heads in the second half of 2025, according to Eurostat.

This follows a sharp reduction in livestock populations across the EU from 2003 to 2023, also according to Eurostat data, with the largest decline recorded for sheep and goats.

This would indicate an increase of 2.1% compared with the same period in 2024, when 11.9 million animals were produced.

By contrast, the production of sheep in the second half of 2025 is forecast to be 7% lower - at 14.5 million head) - compared to the same period in 2024. The production of goats is projected to increase 1.7% to 2.4 million head.

Eurostat forecasts for pig production are made on a quarterly basis and suggest a decrease of 2.7% in the last quarter of 2025 - to 57.1 million head - compared with the same quarter of 2024.

France is forecast to remain the largest producer of bovine meat among EU countries in the second half of 2025, accounting for 22% of the EU’s total bovine meat production.

It is projected that Spain will produce 12 million heads of pigs in the fourth quarter of 2025, which would be the equivalent of about 21% of the EU total.

The decline in sheep production in Spain in the second half of 2025 is expected to be down around 14.6% compared with the same period in 2024. This would represent twice the rate of decline for the EU as a whole.

It is projected that Greece, the EU’s leading producer of goat meat, will produce one million heads in the second half of this year. Spain is expected to produce 0.6 million head - up about 12% compared with the second semester of 2024.

At the end of 2023 in the EU, there were 133 million pigs, 74 million bovine animals and 68 million sheep and goats, according to the most recent Eurostat data.

Spain accounted for about one-quarter of the EU's pig (25.4%) and sheep (23.6%) populations in 2023, while Greece had a similar share of the EU's goat population (25.8%) and France a somewhat smaller share (22.8%) of the bovine population.

Ireland accounted for 8.8% of the EU's bovine animals in 2023 (slightly more than in Spain and Italy), while Denmark accounted for 8.6% of the EU's pig population (only slightly less than in France).

After Spain, the second and third largest sheep populations in the EU were in Romania (17.9% of the EU total) and Greece (13.7%).