New Zealand still has more sheep than people, but humans are catching up

The vast number of sheep in New Zealand relative to the country’s scant human population has long been the subject of jokes aimed at New Zealanders abroad.

- BY CHARLOTTE GRAHAM-MCLAY

It’s true: The country is one of a handful in the world that’s still home to more sheep than people.

But humans are catching up, according to new figures released Tuesday. With a population of 23.6 million sheep and 5.3 million people, there are about 4.5 sheep for each New Zealander, government statistics agency data showed.

That’s down from 22 sheep per person in 1982, when farming sheep for meat and wool was New Zealand’s biggest earner. Now, years of falling wool prices prompted by a global shift to synthetic fibers have led farmers to change what they do with their land, the sector’s biggest lobby group said.

A shrinking flock

By land area, New Zealand is about the size of the United Kingdom, but it has a human population 13 times smaller than the U.K. That means there’s plenty of room for sheep.