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With a population of 23.6 million sheep and 5.3 million people, there are about 4.5 sheep for each New Zealander, the statistic showed.
According to the statistics, 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.
The lobby group added that, however, humans were gradually trying to catch up with the sheep.
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.
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.
