The Nordic countries are committed to conserving farm animal genetic diversity. National reports on phenotypic and genetic characterization point towards a lack of characterization for many Nordic native breeds. Little to no knowledge on the traits of the animals and their derived products leads to potential remaining untapped. The objective of this study was to provide a quantitative assessment of phenotypic and genetic characterization of Nordic native breeds, through a literature search and obtaining census data. Six species and a total of 85 breeds were included. Studies were classified according to six different categories of characterization. Results showed that a large percentage of the breeds are not characterized at all. Moreover, most breeds have extremely low census sizes. A substantial effort to increase population sizes and document characteristics of Nordic native breeds, to promote conservation and sustainable use, is needed.

北欧国家致力于保护农场动物的遗传多样性。有关表型和遗传特征的国家报告指出，许多北欧本地品种缺乏特征。对动物及其衍生产品的性状了解甚少甚至不了解，可能导致尚未开发的动物。这项研究的目的是通过文献检索和获得普查数据，对北欧本地品种的表型和遗传特征进行定量评估。包括六个物种，总共85个品种。根据六种不同的表征类别对研究进行分类。结果表明，很大一部分品种根本没有特征。此外，大多数品种的人口普查规模极低。