Livestock Population Trend Analysis in India: A Censual Review of Last Decade

The livestock industry, which employs 8.8% of the workforce, including women, smallholders and landless workers and contributes 4.11% of the country’s GDP and 25.6% of its agricultural GDP, is essential to India’s rural economy. With 19.46% of the world’s cattle and 59.29% of its buffalo, India is home to the biggest livestock population in the world, contributing significantly to both food security and the creation of livelihoods. 535.76 million animals were counted in the 20th Livestock Census (2019), a 4.8% increase over 2012. Sheep (+14.1%) and goats (+10.1%) are on the rise, while cattle (+1.3%) and buffaloes (+1.1%) are on the drop. Pigs (-12%), camels (-37.1%), donkeys (-61.2%) and mules (-57.1%) are on the decline. While native cattle continued to diminish, the numbers of female and crossbred cattle increased dramatically. There was a noticeable regional difference, with Odisha exhibiting significant decreases and West Bengal and Telangana seeing robust development. Overall, the decrease of pigs and working horses reveals structural issues including poor breeding, disease and policy neglect, while small ruminants and buffaloes show encouraging development driven by consumer demand. For sustainable growth and improved rural livelihoods, it will be crucial to close productivity gaps, preserve native breeds and assist underappreciated species. The article has been written to provide a brief overview of the state of livestock in the nation since 2007 by examining the significance of livestock censuses and comparative studies of those.