The latest data on the European pig population updated by Eurostat for December 2014 indicate an increase in the pig population in the European Union. According to these data, some of them still provisional, the total number of pigs amounted to 137.2 million; data from Belgium and the UK —still not available—, have yet to be added.
These preliminary data indicate an increase in the European pig population compared to the previous year. This is the first increase in the census from 2006, when the population was 163.04 million heads.
The main increases —over 4%—, have occurred in Spain, Hungary and Portugal. The censuses of the Czech Republic (+3.8%), Denmark (+2.48%) and Poland (+2.47%) also show important increases, while Germany’s, with Europe’s largest census (28.234 million animals), increased only by 0.36%. In contrast, the significant declines of between 3 and 5% in Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia, Cyprus and Romania, or 1% in France stand out.