On November 11, 2025, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food published official data on the use of animals in research and teaching in Spain during 2024. Below is a brief comparison with the previous year (2023).

Number of uses

Since 2014, these statistics have analyzed not so much the number of animals used in research, but rather the uses to which they have been put, which is also an indicator of the application of the 3Rs. Compared to 2023, the number of uses in 2024 increased by 8.42%. And only 1.35% of the animals were reused.

Species

– The use of rodents decreased by 2%.

– The use of pigs grew by 10%, marking the fourth consecutive year that this figure has increased.

– The use of fish fell by 63% after three years of increases. The reason for these results is due to the drastic decline in the use of sea bass as a research animal and the almost 50% drop in the use of zebrafish.

Purposes
Similar to the previous year, the fields of oncology, cardiovascular disease, and immunology continue to account for 55% of scientific research involving animals in Spain.

Severity
In terms of the severity of procedures, minor or moderate procedures decreased by 3% (89% of the total), while severe procedures increased by 2% (8% of the total).

Genetically modified animals
Twenty-four percent of the animals used were genetically modified, without these modifications causing pathologies, and 4% were modified animals with pathologies.

By Adrián Arruego, veterinarian at CREBA

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