Cat breed statistics look different depending on the registry and the year measured. The GCCF’s 2025 registration list places the British Shorthair first in its figures, while FIFe’s 2024 statistics place the Maine Coon first by registrations and share. These are registration datasets, not a census of every cat living in a home.
Contents
- What the GCCF 2025 rankings show
- The leading GCCF breeds
- Mid-ranked and less numerous GCCF breeds
- What FIFe recorded in 2024
- A comparison of the two registration views
- Breed-by-breed FIFe figures
What the GCCF 2025 rankings show
The Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF) recorded 5,873 British Shorthairs in 2025, ranking the breed first. Its 2024 figure was 6,481. In the same 2025 GCCF list, the Ragdoll ranked second with 3,111 registrations, compared with 3,061 in 2024, and the Maine Coon ranked third with 2,324, compared with 2,642 in 2024.
The next two positions were Siamese and Burmese. Siamese ranked fourth with 860 registrations, up from 847 in 2024. Burmese ranked fifth with 805, down from 916. These year-over-year movements are part of the GCCF registration record for the two stated years; they do not describe the popularity of every cat breed in the general cat population.
The compact comparison below keeps the GCCF measurement period visible.
| GCCF breed | 2025 registrations | 2024 registrations | 2025 rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| British Shorthair | 5,873 | 6,481 | 1 |
| Ragdoll | 3,111 | 3,061 | 2 |
| Maine Coon | 2,324 | 2,642 | 3 |
| Siamese | 860 | 847 | 4 |
| Burmese | 805 | 916 | 5 |
Source: GCCF Registered Cats By Breed 2024-2025.
The leading GCCF breeds
The gap between the first two GCCF entries is substantial within this registration list: British Shorthair had 5,873 registrations in 2025, while Ragdoll had 3,111. Maine Coon followed with 2,324. The ordering matters because the same breeds appear in a different order in the FIFe 2024 figures later in this article.
British Longhair ranked sixth in the GCCF 2025 list with 413 registrations, down from 823 in 2024. Oriental Shorthair ranked seventh with 379, down from 502. Persian ranked eighth with 359, down from 428. Russian ranked ninth with 327, down slightly from 331. Devon Rex ranked tenth with 322, up from 285.
Siberian was close behind Devon Rex at rank eleven, with 321 GCCF registrations in 2025 compared with 319 in 2024. Birman ranked twelfth with 260, down from 329. The GCCF list also placed Shorthair Pedigree Pet* thirteenth with 206, down from 344. The asterisk is retained because it is part of the supplied GCCF breed label.
At ranks fourteen and fifteen, Exotic recorded 203 registrations, up from 176, and Norwegian Forest recorded 201, down from 267. Abyssinian ranked sixteenth with 186 registrations, compared with 98 in 2024. That is the largest increase among these stated GCCF comparisons in absolute terms, but the figures remain registrations in this particular registry and period.
Mid-ranked and less numerous GCCF breeds
The lower half of the 25-breed GCCF list contains a wide range of registration counts. Longhair/SLH Pedigree Pet* ranked seventeenth with 180 registrations in 2025, down from 221 in 2024. Tonkinese ranked eighteenth with 149, up from 139. Sphynx ranked nineteenth with 113, down from 150.
Asian Shorthair ranked twentieth with 101 registrations, down from 138. Bengal ranked twenty-first with 86, down from 112. Somali Longhair ranked twenty-second with 83, up from 52. Ocicat ranked twenty-third with 74, up from 54.
Oriental Longhair ranked twenty-fourth with 69 registrations in 2025, compared with 129 in 2024. Korat ranked twenty-fifth with 63, up from 29. The final ranks therefore include both breeds with modest increases and breeds with considerably lower registration counts than the previous GCCF figure supplied for comparison.
The GCCF data also shows why a ranking should be read with its underlying counts. A breed’s position can move when its own registrations change, when another breed changes more sharply, or both. The list gives rank and count for 2025, plus a 2024 comparison for each named entry, but it does not establish causes for those changes.
What FIFe recorded in 2024
The Fédération Internationale Féline (FIFe) 2024 breeding statistics present a different view. Maine Coon was the largest listed category, with 23,775 registrations representing 24.7% of all breed registrations. British Shorthair followed with 16,278 and 16.9%, while Ragdoll recorded 15,052 and 15.7%.
The next three FIFe entries were Siberian with 4,420 registrations and 4.6%, Devon Rex with 4,296 and 4.5%, and Norwegian Forest with 4,105 and 4.3%. Bengal recorded 3,559 registrations and 3.7%, while Siamese recorded 3,147 and 3.3%.
FIFe’s figures identify Nebelung at 2,977 registrations and 3.1%, followed by Russian at 2,370 and 2.5%. Persian recorded 1,981 and 2.1%, and Sphynx recorded 1,956 and 2.0%.
These percentages are the shares stated in FIFe Breeding Statistics 2024. They should not be combined with GCCF counts as though both registries covered the same population. The organizations, reporting systems, and measurement years differ.
A comparison of the two registration views
Several breeds appear in both sources, but their positions and counts are not interchangeable. The table shows the supplied values side by side without attempting to reconcile the two registries.
| Breed | GCCF 2025 registrations | GCCF rank | FIFe 2024 registrations | FIFe share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| British Shorthair | 5,873 | 1 | 16,278 | 16.9% |
| Ragdoll | 3,111 | 2 | 15,052 | 15.7% |
| Maine Coon | 2,324 | 3 | 23,775 | 24.7% |
| Siamese | 860 | 4 | 3,147 | 3.3% |
| Burmese | 805 | 5 | 1,515 | 1.6% |
| Siberian | 321 | 11 | 4,420 | 4.6% |
| Devon Rex | 322 | 10 | 4,296 | 4.5% |
| Norwegian Forest | 201 | 15 | 4,105 | 4.3% |
| Bengal | 86 | 21 | 3,559 | 3.7% |
| Sphynx | 113 | 19 | 1,956 | 2.0% |
Source labels: GCCF Registered Cats By Breed 2024-2025; FIFe Breeding Statistics 2024.
The most visible contrast is Maine Coon. It ranked third in the GCCF 2025 figures with 2,324 registrations, but it was first in the FIFe 2024 figures with 23,775 and a 24.7% share. British Shorthair shows the reverse ordering: first in the stated GCCF list with 5,873, second in FIFe with 16,278 and 16.9%.
The same caution applies to Ragdoll. It ranked second in GCCF 2025 with 3,111 registrations and third in FIFe 2024 with 15,052 and 15.7%. A cross-source difference is therefore evidence of different registry results, not a direct measure of a breed becoming more or less common between 2024 and 2025.
Breed-by-breed FIFe figures
FIFe recorded Oriental Shorthair at 1,694 registrations, representing 1.8%, and Burmese at 1,515, representing 1.6%. British Longhair recorded 1,393 and 1.4%, while Exotic recorded 1,187 and 1.2%.
A separate Siamese entry under the SIA code recorded 929 registrations and 1.0% in the same FIFe 2024 statistics. Because the source lists this as a separate coded entry, it is reported separately here rather than added to the 3,147 Siamese figure. The supplied data does not explain the relationship between the two entries.
Abyssinian recorded 848 FIFe registrations and 0.9%. Chartreux recorded 811 and 0.8%. Cornish Rex recorded 697 and 0.7%. European Shorthair recorded 310 and 0.3%, while Selkirk Rex Longhair recorded 277 and 0.3%.
At the bottom of the supplied FIFe list, Birman Longhair recorded 240 registrations and 0.2%, Thai recorded 234 and 0.2%, and Somali recorded 230 and 0.2%. These small shares are rounded as presented in FIFe Breeding Statistics 2024.
Taken together, the figures show a broad spread across recognized breed categories. The largest stated FIFe count is 23,775 for Maine Coon, while the smallest is 230 for Somali. The GCCF list likewise ranges from 5,873 British Shorthairs to 63 Korats in its 2025 entries. Those ranges describe the reported registration records for each organization and period; they are not estimates of all owned, rescued, or unregistered cats.
Reading cat breed statistics carefully
The most useful question is always: what exactly is being counted? Here, GCCF figures are registrations by breed for 2024 and 2025, with a 2025 ranking. FIFe figures are 2024 breeding statistics that include both registration counts and stated shares of all breed registrations. Neither source is presented as a household survey or worldwide population estimate.
For readers comparing breeds, use the GCCF list to understand the ordering within its 2025 registration record and the supplied change from 2024. Use the FIFe list to understand its 2024 registration distribution and the relative share assigned to each listed category. Keeping those contexts separate avoids treating a registration total, a percentage share, and a rank as if they were the same measurement.
Source labels: GCCF Registered Cats By Breed 2024-2025; FIFe Breeding Statistics 2024.