Livestock

NOTES ON METHODOLOGY

Sources and methods of data collection

Data in the domain of livestock statistics are collected in two ways: through a regular annual statistical survey on animal production and using administrative data sources.

The regular annual statistical survey serves to collect data on the number and weight of pigs and poultry, increase and losses of pigs and poultry, production and balance of eggs, production of milk (cows’, sheep’s and goats’), balance of milk as well as production of milk products and wool. The data are collected separately for business entities and parts thereof and for private family farms.

Data for business entities are collected via reports, which are delivered by post to the Croatian Bureau of Statistics. Since 2016, they have also been collected via a web application through which the reporting units fill in data themselves.

Data for private family farms are collected by using the CATI (computer-assisted telephone interviewing) method applied to the selected stratified sample.

Since 2018, data on the number, increase and losses of cattle and goats, and since 2023 also on the number, increase and losses of sheep, have been taken over from the Single Register of Domestic Animals (JRDŽ), kept by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries as an administrative data source and refer to the reporting units entered in the Register of Farmers and engaged in the production and breeding of cattle, sheep and goats.

For the purpose of methodological harmonisation for individual categories of cattle, sheep and goats, an estimation of their number has been performed based on historical survey data on animal production and other available sources.

All expanded data have been compared with data from previous years and with available administrative and other sources. If necessary, corrections have been made based on all available data.

The methodology for carrying out the livestock survey is based on Regulation (EU) 2022/2379 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 November 2022 on statistics on agricultural input and output, amending Commission Regulation (EC) No 617/2008 and repealing Regulations (EC) No 1165/2008, (EC) No 543/2009 and (EC) No 1185/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Directive 96/16/EC, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/2745 of 8 December 2023 laying down rules for the application of Regulation (EU) 2022/2379 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards animal production statistics, and the Methodological Basis for Gathering Data on Milk and Dairy Products Statistics (NN, No. 42/13).

Data on the production of honey are taken over from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Croatian Beekeepers Federation as administrative data sources.

Coverage and comparability

The reporting units are business entities and parts thereof classified in section A Agriculture, forestry and fishing according to the National Classification of Activities, 2025 version (NN, No. 47/24), as well as other business entities and parts thereof engaged in livestock production that are classified elsewhere.

The reporting units are also private family farms engaged in the production of livestock and poultry.

Since 2010, the Livestock Survey has been carried out on a sample at level 2 of the National Classification of Spatial Units for Statistics (NKPJS). The sample is selected from the Statistical Register of Agricultural Holdings.

Until 2006, the reference date for the number of livestock and poultry was 31 December of the previous year for legal entities and 15 January of the current year for private family farms. In order to enable harmonisation with the EU methodology, the monitoring date has been changed to 1 December of the current year for both legal entities and private family farms and a recalculation has been made for some livestock categories for the period from 2000 to 2006.

In 2022, the reference monitoring date was changed from 1 December to 1 November of the current year.

Until 2018, all data on the number of livestock and poultry as well as on livestock production were collected using annual statistical surveys.

Since 2018, data on cattle and goats, and since 2023 also on sheep, have been collected from the Single Register of Domestic Animals (JRDŽ) as an administrative data source.

Confidentiality

Aggregate data from which individual units can be identified (due to their small number, the dominance rule or the secondary confidentiality rule), in accordance with the Official Statistics Act (NN, Nos 25/20,155/23 and 124/25 – corr.) and the Instruction on the Protection Rules and Methods for the Dissemination of Official Statistics of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (NN, No. 78/21), are treated as confidential and are, therefore, not published.

Definitions

Bovine animals less than one year old include calves for slaughter and other young cattle (male and female).

Bovine animals aged between one and two years include male and female animals for slaughter and breeding. Cattle that have already calved are included into the Cows category.

Bovine animals over two years include heifers, cows (including younger than two years) and male animals for breeding and slaughter.

Cows are female bovine breeding animals that have already calved.

Heifers are selected female bovine breeding animals that have not calved yet.

Sows are female breeding animals that have farrowed for at least once.

Mated sows are female breeding animals that have already farrowed and are expected to farrow again.

Gilts are selected young female breeding animals that have not farrowed yet.

Mated gilts are young female breeding animals that are expected to farrow for the first time.

Boars are male breeding animals.

Poultry includes broilers, hens, turkeys, geese, ducks and other poultry.

Increase in cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and poultry means gross production of meat in a reference year and is calculated by adding a difference in the weights of export and import to the weight of slaughtered livestock and the difference in the weight of the herd at the end and at the beginning of a reference period.

Milk. The production of cows’, sheep’s and goats’ milk at legal entities as well as on private family farms is presented. The total milked quantity in a reference period is presented, irrespective of the milking method.

Egg production. Data on the total number of eggs laid by all categories of hens and other kinds of poultry were reported. Eggs for setting and eggs for human consumption are included.

Trimmed wool. Quantities of trimmed (clipped) wool from grown-up sheep and tegs (matted and cropped wool) were reported as raw wool.