The European Medicines Agency (EMA) started this project in September 2009, following a request from the European Commission to develop a harmonised approach for the collection and reporting of data on the use of antimicrobial agents in animals from EU and European Economic Area (EEA) Member States.
Voluntary participation in the ESVAC project increased from 9 to 31 reporting countries over the years.
The ESVAC project formally ended in November 2023 with the publication of its final report.
From January 2024, all EU / EEA Member States must report their data on the volume of sales and use of antimicrobial medicinal products in animals, in line with the Veterinary Medicinal Products Regulation.
EU / EEA Member States must use EMA's Antimicrobial Sales and Use Platform to report their data to EMA.
Since 2025, EMA publishes these data annually in the European Sales and Use of Antimicrobials for Veterinary Medicine (ESUVet) reports.
For more information, see:
The annual ESVAC report presents data on the volume of sales of veterinary antimicrobial medicinal products collected from the 31 countries of the ESVAC network. It also highlights key changes and trends over time.
Scientists, veterinarians and other animal healthcare professionals, risk assessors and policy makers in Member States have used the results of the annual report as a reference for antimicrobial policies and for guidance on the responsible use of antimicrobials.
The final ESVAC report, published in November 2023, shows that sales of antimicrobials for use in food-producing animals in Europe fell considerably between 2011 and 2022.
See the 2022 (final) ESVAC report
Overall, most participating countries were successful in reducing the use of antimicrobials in food-producing animals between 2011 and 2022.
For the 25 countries that provided sales data continuously between 2011 and 2022, sales fell by 53% over this period.
Sales have fallen particularly sharply for antimicrobials in AMEG Category B, also classified by the World Health Organization as critically important in human medicine:
| Antimicrobial classes | Reduction in total sales between 2011 and 2022 |
|---|---|
| 3rd and 4th generation cephalosporins | By 49% |
| Polymyxins | By 91% |
| Fluoroquinolones | By 25 % |
| Other quinolones | By 90 % |
Select the expandable panels below to find the ESVAC reports related to the data collected from 2005 to 2021.
An overview of country-specific trends in the volume of sales of veterinary antimicrobial medicinal products between 2010 and 2021 is available in the country reports below.
Each one of the 31 countries has provided information corresponding to their data, and each section presents changes of sales by antimicrobial class, along with a brief summary and discussion of the data.
For the interpretation of data for individual countries, the following points should be considered:
Differences between countries should be interpreted with caution. Variations in reported sales (mg/PCU) and in sales patterns are likely to be partly due to differences in:
A number of countries offered comments related to activities combatting antimicrobial resistance in animals and explanations for the decline or increase of sales in their country. These include:
 | 
 | 
 | 
 |
To obtain standardised data, participating countries provided their sales data of veterinary antimicrobials and animal population data based on a data reporting protocol and data collection form, which are available below. EMA processed the data according to the protocol.
The amounts of veterinary antimicrobial agents sold are linked to the animal demographics in each country.
To normalise the sales data for the animal population that can be subjected to treatment with antimicrobial agents, ESVAC used a population correction unit (PCU) as a proxy for the size of the animal population.
The way the PCU was calculated can be seen in Appendix 2 of the first ESVAC report.
To enable a more detailed analysis of trends in antimicrobial consumption, ESVAC prepared a system for the collection of harmonised and standardised data on consumption by animal species.
As a first step, EMA established standardised units of measurement for reporting antimicrobial consumption in specific animal species, called the 'defined daily dose' and 'defined course dose' for animals.
For more information, see:
In February 2018, EMA published guidance on reporting antimicrobial consumption data by animal species.
EMA also published an updated questions-and-answers document (Q&A) clarifying the rationale for certain recommendations, taking into account comments received during public consultation.
On 26 April 2017, the European Commission organised a workshop with EMA on data collection on consumption of veterinary antimicrobials in Europe. There was general consensus among stakeholders on the need to collect data on antimicrobial use by animal species, and on the benefits of such data collection.
In July 2018, EMA launched a project for stratifying sales data of veterinary antimicrobials by animal species.
This enabled an approximate estimation of consumption by different species, by allocating a proportion of the total sales to each species a veterinary antimicrobial is used in.
A protocol for collecting sales data for stratification is available below. It was based on the outcomes of a pilot project that tested this methodology and possible approaches to be used in EU/EEA Member States. Six volunteer Member States participated in the pilot.
EMA developed an ESVAC strategy for 2016-2020. It incorporated stakeholder feedback gathered through a public consultation.
EMA brought together the best European expertise for harmonising data collection and analysis methodologies. It provided guidance on the collection of data per species, with a specific focus on the three major food-producing ones: pigs, cattle and broilers (poultry).
EMA held meetings on monitoring the consumption of veterinary antimicrobial agents in Europe, bringing together representatives of Member States and other stakeholders.
Find in the webpages linked below more information on these meetings, including reports and presentations.
