Romania ranks third among the European Union member states by number of heads of sheep,with a total population of almost 10 million at the end of 2017, Eurostat data show.
In EU, the United Kingdom has the largest numer of sheep (24.57 million), followed by Spain (15.96 million), Romania (9.77 million), Greece (8.57 million) and Italy (7.22 million), according to official data.
Eurostat series show Romania has 15.4 million heads of sheep in 1989, but the number fell to 7.25 million in 2001, when it reached its last decades-minimum.
During the last 16 years, the number of sheep increased in Romania, due to higher demand on the market.