The aim of this advice is to present an instrument to measure the general health of the livestock population on a yearly basis in Belgium and to monitor its evolution over time. This instrument is, alongside the food safety barometer (Advice 28-2010) and the plant health barometer (Advice 10-2011), one of the 3 instruments to provide a bird's eye view on the overall status of the safety of the food chain in Belgium. In order to measure the animal health situation, it is proposed to work with a set of indicators , the composition of which may change over time. Quantitative data must be available for these indicators in order to allow for a trend analysis over time. In total, 13 animal health indicators (AHI's) were identified and the results of 12 indicators (for one indicator the results were not yet available) were monitored between 2007 and 2010. Compared to 2007 (the reference year) an improvement of overall animal health in Belgium was observed in 2008, 2009 and 2010, on the basis of these 12 indicators. The real significance of this positive evolution must however be assessed over the long term. Lastly, a proposal for the visual presentation of the animal health barometer has been developed ; BE; nl; secretariaat.scicom@favv-afsca.be