Freshwater eels production over time (1970–2024)
Follow freshwater eels production for the world’s countries, year by year, from 1970 to 2024.
- The country ranked first changed over time: Japan in 1970–1988, China in 1989–2024. This is the first place among today’s countries: regions that later split, such as the former Soviet Union, have no values from before the split.
- Japan’s freshwater eels production went from 19.7K t in 1970 to 16.2K t in 2024 (down 3.45K t).
- Japan ranked #1 of 20 countries in 1970 and #2 of 40 in 2024. The number of countries differs between the years, so the ranks are not directly comparable.
Japan and the leading countries
| Country | 1970 | 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 2010 | 2020 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 China | – | – | 67.7K t | 140K t | 206K t | 251K t | 310K t |
 Japan | 19.7K t | 38.6K t | 40K t | 24.9K t | 20.8K t | 16.9K t | 16.2K t |
 South Korea | 100 t | 794 t | 1.28K t | 2.73K t | 8.02K t | 9.77K t | 16K t |
 Philippines | – | 381 t | 531 t | 193 t | 719 t | 1.47K t | 2.64K t |
 Netherlands | 1.5K t | 877 t | 709 t | 4.05K t | 3.31K t | 2.52K t | 2.53K t |
| Countries with data | 20 | 25 | 31 | 42 | 44 | 40 | 40 |
Ranking and map for any year
Choose a year to see that year’s top countries and the world map. Colors split that year’s ranking into seven steps.
| Rank | Country | Freshwater eels production |
|---|
Biggest changes, 1970–2024
Compared among the countries that have data in both 1970 and 2024, ranked by how much the amount grew or shrank (the difference in quantity, not a percentage).
| Country | 1970 | 2024 | Change | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Korea | 100 t | 16K t | up 15.9K t | #19 → #3 |
 Indonesia | 300 t | 2.28K t | up 1.98K t | #16 → #6 |
| Netherlands | 1.5K t | 2.53K t | up 1.03K t | #6 → #5 |
| Country | 1970 | 2024 | Change | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Italy | 4.37K t | 317 t | down 4.05K t | #2 → #12 |
| Japan | 19.7K t | 16.2K t | down 3.45K t | #1 → #2 |
 Denmark | 3.4K t | 190 t | down 3.21K t | #3 → #18 |
 France | 3.09K t | 313 t | down 2.78K t | #4 → #13 |
 Sweden | 1.27K t | 221 t | down 1.05K t | #7 → #16 |
The number of countries differs between the years, so the ranks are not directly comparable.
All countries in key years
Open the table (countries with data)
| Country | 1970 | 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 2010 | 2020 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| China | – | – | 67.7K t | 140K t | 206K t | 251K t | 310K t |
| Japan | 19.7K t | 38.6K t | 40K t | 24.9K t | 20.8K t | 16.9K t | 16.2K t |
| South Korea | 100 t | 794 t | 1.28K t | 2.73K t | 8.02K t | 9.77K t | 16K t |
| Philippines | – | 381 t | 531 t | 193 t | 719 t | 1.47K t | 2.64K t |
| Netherlands | 1.5K t | 877 t | 709 t | 4.05K t | 3.31K t | 2.52K t | 2.53K t |
| Indonesia | 300 t | 575 t | 1.73K t | 6.61K t | 4.06K t | 4.32K t | 2.28K t |
 Egypt | – | – | – | 2.06K t | 352 t | 1.43K t | 1.74K t |
 Germany | 1.6K t | 1.05K t | 978 t | 836 t | 696 t | 1.35K t | 1.37K t |
 Greece | – | – | 76 t | 636 t | 379 t | 377 t | 614 t |
 Spain | 1.1K t | 344 t | 234 t | 481 t | 487 t | 397 t | 459 t |
 New Zealand | 1K t | 1.57K t | 1.41K t | 1.06K t | 583 t | 281 t | 323 t |
| Italy | 4.37K t | 4.99K t | 5.3K t | 3.25K t | 711 t | 454 t | 317 t |
| France | 3.09K t | 1.94K t | 4.65K t | 1.5K t | 580 t | 710 t | 313 t |
 Morocco | – | 25 t | 114 t | 155 t | 145 t | 240 t | 300 t |
 Türkiye | 441 t | 224 t | 230 t | 176 t | 182 t | 320 t | 280 t |
| Sweden | 1.27K t | 1.21K t | 1.1K t | 834 t | 618 t | 268 t | 221 t |
 United States | 1K t | 1.18K t | 421 t | 391 t | 181 t | 34 t | 191 t |
| Denmark | 3.4K t | 2.25K t | 2.38K t | 3.29K t | 1.95K t | 809 t | 190 t |
 Poland | 1K t | 910 t | 913 t | 429 t | 168 t | 130 t | 107 t |
 Canada | 1.1K t | 1.2K t | 1.29K t | 681 t | 341 t | 145 t | 102 t |
 Estonia | – | – | – | 67 t | 39.3 t | 39.9 t | 89.4 t |
 Tunisia | 111 t | 464 t | 484 t | 128 t | 123 t | 284 t | 62.2 t |
 Belgium | – | – | 60 t | 130 t | 30 t | 30.7 t | 30 t |
 United Kingdom | 800 t | 1.05K t | 1.04K t | 796 t | 461 t | 325 t | 23.7 t |
 Albania | – | – | 165 t | 70 t | 59 t | 40 t | 19 t |
 Australia | 100 t | 228 t | 382 t | 393 t | 44 t | – | 14.6 t |
 Czechia | – | – | – | 25 t | 19 t | 15 t | 12 t |
 Hungary | – | – | 249 t | 76 t | 235 t | 3.93 t | 11.4 t |
 Russia | – | – | – | 46 t | 16 t | 13 t | 11 t |
 Lithuania | – | – | – | 11 t | 19 t | 6.84 t | 9.54 t |
 Portugal | – | 36 t | 295 t | 33 t | 15.3 t | 6.04 t | 7.24 t |
 Algeria | – | – | 46 t | 23 t | 4.22 t | 48.4 t | 7 t |
 Dominican Republic | – | – | – | 7 t | 10 t | 3 t | 6 t |
 Belarus | – | – | – | 14 t | 31 t | 3.7 t | 5.9 t |
 Latvia | – | – | – | 15 t | 8 t | 6 t | 5.02 t |
 Finland | – | 63 t | – | – | 11 t | 2 t | 5 t |
 Norway | 400 t | 387 t | 336 t | 281 t | 32.1 t | 4.89 t | 2 t |
 Switzerland | – | – | 11 t | 2 t | 4 t | 1.51 t | 1 t |
 Croatia | – | – | – | – | – | 0.388 t | 0.39 t |
 North Macedonia | – | – | – | – | 16 t | 2.93 t | 0.189 t |
 Bulgaria | – | – | – | – | 0.245 t | – | – |
 Cuba | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
 Cyprus | – | – | – | – | – | 0.1 t | – |
 Ireland | 200 t | 75 t | 256 t | 251 t | – | – | – |
 Lebanon | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
 Montenegro | – | – | – | – | 10 t | – | – |
 Madagascar | – | – | – | – | 30 t | – | – |
 Malta | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
 Mexico | – | – | – | 1 t | – | – | – |
 Malaysia | – | 34 t | 613 t | 1.98K t | – | – | – |
 Romania | – | – | – | 26 t | 0.1 t | – | – |
 Slovenia | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
 Slovakia | – | – | – | 4 t | 3 t | – | – |
 Ukraine | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Countries with data | 20 | 25 | 31 | 42 | 44 | 40 | 40 |
Notes on reading this history
Yearly values come from the same statistics of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FishStat). The number of countries with data differs by year, so each year’s ranks are given only among the countries that have data that year. Countries that produce none (zero) are not ranked. Weather and harvests make the yearly values go up and down. The “latest value” on the ranking page uses each country’s latest year, so it does not always match the ranks for a single year.
The weight is wild catch and farmed production added together, counted as live weight: the whole animal as it was caught or harvested, before it is gutted, shelled or processed. It is more than the weight of the food you buy.
Regions that later split into several countries, such as the former Soviet Union, have a value for each new country only from the year it split. So older years have fewer countries with data, and values from before a split cannot be compared country by country with today’s countries. See the “Countries with data” row in the table.
Source: FAO. 2026. FishStat: Global production by production source. In: FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Division [online]. Rome. Updated 2026. Accessed on 05 November 2026. https://www.fao.org/fishery/en/collection/global_production Licence: CC-BY-4.0. Processed by this site. fao.org/fishery
FishStat data last updated: 2026-03-30
More indicators over time
- Latest ranking: Freshwater eels production
- GDP (total)
- GDP per capita
- Infant mortality rate
- Internet users (share of people)
- Access to electricity (share of people)
- CO₂ emissions per person
- CO₂ emissions (total)
- Urban population (share of people)
- Goods exports (total)
- Air passengers carried
- Women in the labor force (share of women)
- Women in parliament (share of seats)
- Measles vaccination (share of children)
- Renewable electricity (share of power)
- Air pollution (PM2.5)
- Health spending (share of GDP)
- Rice production
- Wheat production
- Maize (corn) production
- Potatoes production
- Tomatoes production
- Bananas production
- Cow’s milk production
- Hen eggs production
- Chicken meat production
- Beef (cattle meat) production
- Pork (pig meat) production
- Soybeans production
- Coffee production
- Cocoa beans production
- Sugar cane production
- Cassava production
- Oranges production
- Apples production
- Onions production
- Cattle number of animals
- Pigs number of animals
- Sheep number of animals
- Chickens number of animals
- Barley production
- Sorghum production
- Millet production
- Sweet potatoes production
- Groundnuts (peanuts) production
- Rapeseed (canola) production
- Sunflower seeds production
- Dry beans production
- Palm oil production
- Grapes production
- Mangoes (with guavas and mangosteens) production
- Pineapples production
- Watermelons production
- Lemons (with limes) production
- Cabbages production
- Cucumbers (with gherkins) production
- Tea production
- Sugar beet production
- Cotton (fibre) production
- Honey production
- Sheep meat (mutton and lamb) production
- Goat meat production
- Goats number of animals
- Horses number of animals
- Cereal production
- Cereal yield (per hectare of farmland)
- Fish and seafood production (catch + farmed)
- Fish catch (from sea, rivers and lakes)
- Aquaculture (farmed fish and seafood)
- Energy use per person
- Electricity consumption per person
- Greenhouse gas emissions (total)
- Safe drinking water (share of people)
- Safe sanitation (share of people)
- Clean cooking fuels (share of people)
- Labor force (number of people)
- Employment in agriculture (share of jobs)
- Manufacturing (share of GDP)
- Reserves of foreign currency and gold
- Money sent home by workers abroad (share of GDP)
- Tuberculosis cases (per 100,000 people)
- Health spending per person
- Oats production
- Rye production
- Yams production
- Chickpeas production
- Lentils production
- Dry peas production
- Coconuts production
- Carrots (with turnips) production
- Lettuce (with chicory) production
- Cauliflower (with broccoli) production
- Eggplants (aubergines) production
- Green chilies and sweet peppers production
- Garlic production
- Tangerines (mandarins) production
- Strawberries production
- Peaches (with nectarines) production
- Avocados production
- Dates production
- Olives production
- Melons (cantaloupes and others) production
- Pears production
- Plums (with sloes) production
- Apricots production
- Cherries production
- Papayas production
- Grapefruits (with pomelos) production
- Tobacco production
- Goat’s milk production
- Butter (with ghee) production
- Cheese (all kinds) production
- Buffaloes number of animals
- Camels number of animals
- Donkeys number of animals
- Ducks number of animals
- Turkeys number of animals
- Forest area
- Agricultural land (share of land)
- Arable land (share of land)
- Under-5 mortality (per 1,000 births)
- Maternal mortality ratio
- Exports (share of GDP)
- Imports (share of GDP)
- Agriculture (share of GDP)
- Industry (share of GDP)
- Services (share of GDP)
- Military spending (share of GDP)
- Renewable energy (share of final energy use)
- Electricity from hydropower (share of total)
- Shrimps and prawns production
- Crabs production
- Lobsters production
- Crayfish and other freshwater crustaceans production
- Oysters production
- Clams and cockles production
- Scallops production
- Mussels production
- Squids, cuttlefish and octopuses production
- Tunas, bonitos and billfishes production
- Carps and other cyprinids production
- Tilapias and other cichlids production
- Herrings, sardines and anchovies production
- Cods, hakes and haddocks production
- Flatfishes (flounders, halibuts, soles) production
- Sea urchins, sea cucumbers and other echinoderms production
- Sharks and rays production
- Seaweeds and other aquatic plants production