How To Do Animal Rights. Chicken Statistics

How to Do Animal Rights - & Win the War on Animals

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Chapter Sections

1. Summary

2. Chickens

3. Pigs

4. Beef Cattle

5. Fish

6. Meat Consumption

7. Fur-bearers

8. Experimental Animals

How to Do Animal Rights - and Win the War on Animals

Chapter 7

Animal Numbers Raised & Killed

2. Chickens

Summary

People kill over 70 billion chickens annually worldwide (Table 1).

Of these, about 30 billion chickens are broilers, 5 billion are egg-layers, plus tens of millions of breeders. This total doubles when male chicks (killed at hatching) are added (Table 1).

Three countries produce over half the world's broilers: the US, China and Brazil (Table 2).

The number of broilers is increasing by about a billion a year (Table 2).

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Types of Chicken

The four categories of commercial chicken are:

Broiler (to eat)

Egg-layer (to lay eggs)

Breeder (males and females who breed the broilers and egg-layers)

Male chicks (killed at hatching)

Virtually all broilers and egg-layers are dead by the end of a year and are replaced by new hens. Almost all adult chickens are hens (males do not taste as good as hens, cannot lay eggs and relatively few males are needed to breed more hens). But a male chick hatches for every female chick. So male chicks are killed soon after hatching and turned into fertiliser and pet food.

Broilers. Courtesy Farm Sanctuary.

Egg-layers. Courtesy Farm Sanctuary.

Table 1. Breakdown of Chicken Numbers Worldwide

Official statistics almost always only report broiler, egg-layer and breeder numbers. Virtually all of these animals are females (only a few males are needed for breeding). But an equal number of male chicks are hatched. Therefore, to get an idea of how may chickens people kill, you must include the male chicks. This doubles the worldwide annual total of chickens killed to at least 70 billion.

Table 1. Breakdown of Chicken Numbers Worldwide
Broilers	30 billion (see Table 2)
Egg-layers	5 billion (see Table 3)
Breeders	Several millions (60 million in the US alone)
Male chicks	35 billion (ie equals the number of hens)
World Total	70 billion

Table 2. Number of Broilers Produced Annually

About 30 billion broilers are alive in any one year. Three countries produce over half (60 percent) of them: US, China and Brazil. Worldwide the number of broilers is increasing by about a billion per year.

Table 2. Number of Broilers Produced Annually. Top ten countries & Worldwide for years 2003 to 2008. Figures are in billions.
	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
United States	7.4	7.6	7.9	8.0	8.0	8.3
China	5.0	5.0	5.1	5.2	5.4	5.7
Brazil	3.8	4.2	4.7	4.7	5.1	5.3
European Union - 27 states	4.0	3.9	4.1	3.9	4.0	4.0
Mexico	1.1	1.2	1.2	1.3	1.3	1.4
India	0.8	0.8	1.0	1.0	1.1	1.2
Russian Federation	0.3	0.3	0.4	0.6	0.7	0.8
Argentina	0.4	0.5	0.5	0.6	0.6	0.7
Japan	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6
Thailand	0.7	0.4	0.5	0.6	0.5	0.6
Others	3.6	3.6	3.8	3.8	4.0	3.7
World Total	27.4	28.2	29.8	30.3	31.5	32.2

Source. Livestock and Poultry: World Markets and Trade. United States Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service, Office of Global Analysis. Circular Series DL&P 2-07 November 2007. www.fas.usda.gov. (Web site accessed February 2008.)

Notes for Table 2

Note that figures are in billions. Thus the total number of broilers produced for 2007 was about 32 billion.

The original USDA data included only the countries which are the major animal producers. Therefore the World Total in Table 2 is a minimum figure. USDA figures for 2007 are preliminary and for 2008 an estimate.

The original data, from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), were in tonnes of ready to cook chickens (that is chickens minus heads, feet and internal organs). The live slaughter weight of US broilers, according to USDA information, averages around 2.5 kg (5.5 lbs); therefore ready to cook weight will be about 2 kg (4.4 lbs). Assuming that US broilers are among the heaviest in the world, an average of 2 kg per broiler worldwide was used to generate the figures in Table 2 and may give a conservative estimate of broiler numbers.

USDA state that their data are based on "USDA-FAS attach� reports, official statistics, and results of office research".

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Table 3. Number of Egg-laying Hens

There are five billion egg-laying hens worldwide. China produces most egg-laying hens (one in five) and the US is the second largest producer.

Egg-layers made 53 million tonnes of eggs in 2002 (The World Egg Industry - a few facts and figures. International Egg Commission). After a year of laying eggs the hens are clapped out, sent for slaughter (end up in pet food and cheap pies) and a new annual cycle begins with replacement hens.

Table 3. Number of Egg-laying Hens. The top five egg production countries and Worldwide, 2002.
Countries	Number of Hens
China	1,000,000,000
USA	276,000,000
Japan	152,000,000
India	133,000,000
Mexico	115,000,000
World Total	5,000,000,000

Sources. The World Egg Industry - a few facts and figures. International Egg Commission. (Web site accessed February 2008.) Info for Japan (for 2001) from Hens & Eggs, Vegan Society, (web site accessed February 2008), citing Statement on the Welfare of Laying Hens, 2001. International Egg Commission.

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General Notes

A precise count of the number of chickens worldwide is impossible. Therefore figures in these Tables are rounded to avoid spurious accuracy and totals do not necessarily add up.