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

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


3. Pigs

Pig


Summary

  • People keep at least 2,000,000,000 pigs worldwide (Table 1).

  • At least half the world's pigs live in China and 85 percent of pigs live in three countries: China, European Union and United States (Table 1).

  • People kill about 1,200,000,000 pigs annually worldwide, an average of 23 million pigs a week (Table 2).

  • About 85 per cent of the world's pigs die in three countries: China (12 million per week), European Union (five million per week) and United States (two million per week) (Table 2).

  • The Chinese kill most pigs, about 50 percent of pigs slaughtered worldwide (Table 2).



    • Pig


    Table 1. The Number of Pigs People Keep Worldwide

    Table 1. Total Number of Pigs People Keep Worldwide.
    Top ten countries & Worldwide for years 2003 to 2008.
    Figures are in millions.
      2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
    China 1,061 1,103 1,167 1,183 1,124 1,119
    European Union - 27 422 415 414 416 420 419
    United States 161 163 165 167 171 174
    Brazil 62 62 65 66 69 70
    Russian Federation 52 52 52 54 56 60
    Canada 46 48 48 48 47 46
    Mexico 26 26 26 26 26 26
    Japan 27 27 27 27 27 27
    Korea Republic 24 23 22 22 23 23
    Ukraine 16 14 13 15 16 17
    Others 119 126 134 139 144 145
    World Total 2,017 2,059 2,132 2,162 2,122 1,995

    Source. Live Swine Selected Countries Summary. Production (Pig Crop), and Total Beginning Stocks. In 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 1

    Figures in this table are derived from the USDA (see Source below the table). USDA state that their data are based on "USDA-FAS attaché reports, official statistics, and results of office research" and that figures for 2007 are preliminary and are estimates for 2008. They also say their data include only those countries which are the major animal producers; therefore, World Total in this table is a minimum figure, less than the actual total.

    The USDA provide two sets of figures in their original data: 'Total Beginning Stocks' and 'Production Crop'. Beginning Stocks are the animals alive at the start of the year and breed the Production Crop. The number of Beginning Stocks remain roughly constant from year to year and it is largely the Production Crop that is slaughtered. Pig numbers in this table include both classes of pig and should give an estimate of the total number of pigs in countries.

    Livestock are impossible to count accurately; therefore I have rounded the figures in this table to avoid spurious accuracy and totals may not necessarily add up exactly.


    Pig


    Table 2. The Number of Pigs People Kill Worldwide

    Table 2. Number of Pigs People Kill Worldwide.
    Top ten countries & Worldwide for years 2003 to 2008.
    Figures are in millions.
      2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
    China 598 637 685 680 630 649
    European Union - 27 262 256 257 259 260 259
    United States 102 103 104 106 108 110
    Russian Federation 35 35 36 37 39 42
    Brazil 30 30 32 33 36 36
    Canada 31 33 33 32 32 31
    Japan 17 17 17 17 17 17
    Mexico 15 15 16 16 16 16
    Korea Republic 16 15 14 14 15 15
    Ukraine 7 6 7 8 8 8
    Others 72 77 84 87 90 90
    World Total 1,185 1,225 1,285 1,288 1,250 1,192

    Source. Live Swine Selected Countries Summary. Production (Pig Crop). In 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

    Notes for Table 1 also apply to this table.




    Pig


    Other Statistical Sources

  • Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO)
    • Agriculture and Food — Livestock: Swine stocks. Earth Trends, World Resources Institute. www.wri.org. (Web site accessed January 2007.) Earth Trends obtain their data from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), FAOSTAT on-line statistical service (FAO: Rome, 2005).

    FAO figures are from 'spot counts'. A spot count is a census of animals on one day in the year (eg 1 July or 31 December). A spot count does not count all the animals born during the year (animals may have died before the spot count or born after it and not counted). Therefore FAO figures consistently underestimate the total number of animals.

  • China Statistical Yearbook 2006
    • 13-20 Number of Livestock. China Statistical Yearbook 2006. National Bureau of Statistics of China. www.stats.gov.cn. (Web site accessed March 2008.)

    The USDA data above on pig numbers and slaughter agree reasonably will with data about pigs in China, differing by plus or minus a few million pigs for each year data is given.



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

    © Roger (Ben) Panaman, April 2008. All rights reserved.