At the end of 2025, the number of dairy cows in the EU was lower
According to EUROSTAT's preliminary data, in November and December 2025, there were around 19.1 million dairy cows in the EU-27, 0.7% fewer than in the corresponding period in 2024. Among the largest dairy cow producing countries in the EU-27, Germany, Italy and Ireland had more dairy cows at the end of 2025 than in the corresponding period of 2024: Germany held 0.2% more (3.6 million head in total), Italy 0.4% more (1.8 million head in total) and Ireland 0.6% more (1.5 million head in total). Belgium (+0.8%), Denmark (+1.0%), Austria (+0.1%) and Sweden (+1.9%) also showed an upward trend.
The higher percentage increases were observed in those EU countries with fewer dairy cows. For example, at the end of 2025, Luxembourg had almost 58,000 dairy cows – a 5.2% increase compared to the same period in 2024, Estonia had a 2.3% increase in the number of dairy cows (to 85,000 head), and Cyprus had a 2.6% increase in the number of dairy cows (to 40,000 head).
However, most of the EU-27 countries saw a decrease in the number of dairy cows. In France, the decline was particularly marked. At the end of 2025, France had almost 3.0 million dairy cows – 3.0% less than at the end of 2024. This sharp decline is likely due to political strategies to reduce cattle herds as a result of methane emission reductions, as well as to outbreaks of bovine viral disease (scrapie) in the summer of 2025 in some regions of France. Outbreaks of this disease also occurred in Spain at the end of 2025. Mass vaccination of cattle has been carried out in the border regions between France and Spain to prevent further spread.
Dairy cow numbers are also declining in some other EU countries at the end of 2025 compared to the end of 2024: Poland by 0.7% (to 1.9 million head), the Czech Republic by 4.8% (to 0.3 million head), Romania by 0.9% (to 1.0 million head) and the Netherlands by 0.6% (to 1.5 million head). Dairy cow numbers also decreased in Portugal, Finland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia and Slovakia.
