How Many Rats Are There In Great Britain?

How Many Rats Are There In Great Britain?

You may have noticed that it is common for people to state 'Did you know there are as many rats as people in the UK?'. But is this really true and also where did this information come from?

The fact seems to have originated in a book called 'The Rat Problem' by little known author WR Boelter, written in 1909. he states that he asked a large number of country dwellers if they thought it was reasonable to say that there is one rat, on average, per acre of farm land.  Apparently they agreed with this.

There were approximately forty million acres of known arable land in UK during that time. Along with 40 million human inhabitants this gives an approximate ratio of 1:1.

More recently the renowned Dr Dave Cowan for the Food And Environmental Research Agency calculated that the number. He found the number is closer to 10.5 million.  He calculated this by using more reliable data and breaking their habitat up. He split it into different areas such as domestic, sewers and commercial to give us a better estimate to work from.  This gives a ratio closer to 6:1 humans to rats.

The most significant problem that rats bring is the monumental amount of serious damage they can do to wiring, machinery and stock.  This is partly because their teeth grow continuously throughout their lives. They need to be constantly worn away so they don't get so long that the rat can't eat.

Thankfully chaps there is this solution on the horizon. This new anti-rat flooring from Hammer Technologies should put paid to the little varmints once and for all. It forms a rodent-free zone surrounding your property.