New Zealand's dairy cattle population is growing so fast to meet the global demand for dairy products that it is outstripping the country's human population, the government statistics agency said Monday.

Dairy cattle numbers increased for the sixth straight year in the 12 months to the end of June to reach 6.6 million, or 1.5 dairy cattle for every New Zealander, according to Statistics New Zealand.

"Compared with recently released population census figures over the same seven-year period, the dairy cattle population has grown over five times faster," agriculture statistics manager Hamish Hill said in a statement.

Long-term growth has seen the dairy herd grow by about 27 percent since 2006.

"If New Zealand's human population had increased at the same rate there would now be more than 5 million Kiwis," Hill said.

Other livestock numbers showed slight declines in 2013, with the national sheep flock falling by 358,000 to stand at just under 31 million.

Last month, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment warned the expansion and intensification of dairy farming was degrading the country's waterways with pollutants, particularly nitrogen. Endi

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