Livestock population in India: The Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD) released a census report of livestock population for the year 2019 on October 16. The data revealed that the livestock population in India has grown by 4.6% from 512 million in 2012 to about 536 million in 2019.
The population of cows showed an impressive increase of 18% over the previous census. The numbers of other cattle have marginally increased but cows are accounted for one-fourth count of total livestock population of India.
| Livestock Population 2019 | |||
| Category | Population 2019 (in million) | Population 2012 (in million) | Growth % |
| Cattle | 192.49 | 190.90 | 0.83 |
| Buffalo | 109.85 | 108.70 | 1.06 |
| Sheep | 74.26 | 65.07 | 14.13 |
| Goat | 148.88 | 135.17 | 10.14 |
| Pig | 9.06 | 10.29 | -1203 |
| Mithun | 0.38 | 0.30 | 26.66 |
| Yak | 0.06 | 0.08 | -25.00 |
| Horse & Ponies | 0.34 | 0.63 | -45.58 |
| Mule | 0.08 | 0.20 | -57.09 |
| Donkey | 0.12 | 0.32 | -61.23 |
| Camel | 0.25 | 0.40 | -37.05 |
| Total Livestock | 535.78 | 512.06 | 4.63 |
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Livestock Census 2019
• The poultry population has increased in the country from 729.2 million to 851.81 million which is 16.80 percent of the rise.
• The population of cattle in India has witnessed a very marginal growth as female cattle (cows) are 145.12 million over the 122.98 million in 2012.
• However, a big drop was seen in the population of male cattle from 67.92 million in 2012 to 47.4 million in 2019.
• Uttar Pradesh (UP) has emerged with the highest number of livestock (67.8 million).
• However other states like Rajasthan (56.8 million), Madhya Pradesh (40.6 million) and West Bengal (37.4 million) also seen growth in livestock.
• According to the latest Livestock census, a total of 109.85 million buffalos is there in the country.
• The data-informed that the total number of sheep in the country is 74.26 million, which is 14.1% of growth than its previous number.
Livestock census method
The Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying said that more than 80,000 people were deployed for Livestock census. They collected data from more than 27 crore household and non-households. This time Livestock census was done through tabs.
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