How many pigs were there in 1910?
In 1910, there were 1.26 million pigs on Dutch farms. Twenty years later this number had nearly tripled. Pig numbers number peaked in 1997, at over 15 million. Today there are around 11 million pigs in the Netherlands.
Pig numbers were relatively large in 1931 and 1932, at around 2.6 million. Pig farming subsequently collapsed as a result of the agricultural crisis and the slump in the demand for pork. After 1945, pig numbers increased almost yearly. At 11.3 million in 2022, the number of pigs was nearly nine times the number at the beginning of the last century.
| Jaar | Pigs |
|---|---|
| 1900 | 0.954 |
| 1901 | 0.976 |
| 1902 | 1.051 |
| 1903 | 1.127 |
| 1904 | 1.100 |
| 1905 | 1.140 |
| 1906 | 1.180 |
| 1907 | 1.220 |
| 1908 | 1.260 |
| 1909 | 1.260 |
| 1910 | 1.260 |
| 1911 | 1.290 |
| 1912 | 1.320 |
| 1913 | 1.350 |
| 1914 | 1.380 |
| 1915 | 1.300 |
| 1916 | 1.250 |
| 1917 | 1.185 |
| 1918 | 0.600 |
| 1919 | 0.900 |
| 1920 | 1.000 |
| 1921 | 1.519 |
| 1922 | 1.600 |
| 1923 | 1.700 |
| 1924 | 1.900 |
| 1925 | 1.900 |
| 1926 | 2.000 |
| 1927 | 2.300 |
| 1928 | 2.100 |
| 1929 | 1.900 |
| 1930 | 2.018 |
| 1931 | 2.550 |
| 1932 | 2.735 |
| 1933 | 2.113 |
| 1934 | 2.070 |
| 1935 | 1.629 |
| 1936 | 1.679 |
| 1937 | 1.406 |
| 1938 | 1.538 |
| 1939 | 1.553 |
| 1940 | 1.288 |
| 1941 | 0.948 |
| 1942 | 0.491 |
| 1943 | 0.545 |
| 1944 | . |
| 1945 | 0.077 |
| 1946 | 1.040 |
| 1947 | 0.857 |
| 1948 | 0.871 |
| 1949 | 1.298 |
| 1950 | 1.860 |
| 1951 | 1.935 |
| 1952 | 1.843 |
| 1953 | 1.968 |
| 1954 | 1.945 |
| 1955 | 2.378 |
| 1956 | 2.332 |
| 1957 | 2.529 |
| 1958 | 2.472 |
| 1959 | 2.590 |
| 1960 | 2.955 |
| 1961 | 2.860 |
| 1962 | 2.800 |
| 1963 | 2.923 |
| 1964 | 3.268 |
| 1965 | 3.752 |
| 1966 | 3.918 |
| 1967 | 4.295 |
| 1968 | 4.683 |
| 1969 | 4.755 |
| 1970 | 5.533 |
| 1971 | 6.158 |
| 1972 | 6.233 |
| 1973 | 6.425 |
| 1974 | 6.719 |
| 1975 | 7.279 |
| 1976 | 7.507 |
| 1977 | 8.288 |
| 1978 | 9.172 |
| 1979 | 9.722 |
| 1980 | 10.138 |
| 1981 | 10.315 |
| 1982 | 10.254 |
| 1983 | 10.656 |
| 1984 | 11.146 |
| 1985 | 12.383 |
| 1986 | 13.481 |
| 1987 | 14.349 |
| 1988 | 13.934 |
| 1989 | 13.729 |
| 1990 | 13.915 |
| 1991 | 13.217 |
| 1992 | 14.160 |
| 1993 | 14.964 |
| 1994 | 14.565 |
| 1995 | 14.397 |
| 1996 | 14.419 |
| 1997 | 15.189 |
| 1998 | 13.446 |
| 1999 | 13.567 |
| 2000 | 13.118 |
| 2001 | 13.073 |
| 2002 | 11.648 |
| 2003 | 11.169 |
| 2004 | 11.153 |
| 2005 | 11.312 |
| 2006 | 11.356 |
| 2007 | 11.663 |
| 2008 | 12.026 |
| 2009 | 12.186 |
| 2010 | 12.255 |
| 2011 | 12.429 |
| 2012 | 12.234 |
| 2013 | 12.212 |
| 2014 | 12.238 |
| 2015 | 12.603 |
| 2016 | 12.479 |
| 2017 | 12.401 |
| 2018 | 12.430 |
| 2019 | 12.269 |
| 2020 | 11.950 |
| 2021 | 11.457 |
| 2022 | 11.279 |
Easy to please
Pigs used to be popular farm animals. They were easy to feed. They were given waste products from farming such as residues from cereal, seed, fodder beet, tuber and potato crops. But as they also relished byproducts from cheesemaking, in regions where farmers processed milk and dairy products, they often also kept pigs. Farmers’ wives and children took care of them, and once they had been fattened up, they were sold. Later farmers started to feed pigs with cereals, some of which they bought in for the purpose. Since then, national and international cereals markets have been an important factor in pig farming.
From Gelderland to Noord-Brabant
The province of Gelderland had the largest pig population in 1910 (266 thousand, 21 percent of all pigs), Zeeland the smallest (44 thousand, 3.5 percent). Pig numbers started to rise from the mid-1940s and continued to grow until 1997, when the number peaked at 15.2 million. In February of that year, swine fever broke out in the Netherlands. Pig farmers went through a very difficult period, which lasted until 2004; the number of pigs fell to 11.2 million. After that the pig population increased again, to reach 12.6 million in 2015. Now there are 11.3 million pigs in the Netherlands (2022).
Today, most pigs are no longer kept in Gelderland. Nearly half of all pigs are reared in Noord-Brabant: 5.2 million in 2022. This is more than in Limburg, Gelderland and Overijssel – the other provinces with the most pigs – combined (3.8 million). Pig numbers in Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland were even much lower in 2022 than in 1910.
Source
StatLine – Livestock on agricultural holdings
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