How To Do Animal Rights. Meat Consumption Statistics

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

Home

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

6. Meat Consumption

Animals and meat in this section mean livestock and poultry and exclude sea food. For fish see Chapter 7: Fish.

Summary

People eat about 250,000,000 tonnes of meat annually worldwide (Table 1).

The Chinese eat more meat than any other country (Table 1) but not on average per person (Table 2).

People in China, United States and Brazil combined eat half the world's meat (Table 1).

On average each human worldwide eats 40 kilograms of meat annually (Table 2).

On average each person in the top ten meat-eating countries eats three times (123 kilograms per person) the world average (Table 2).

On average people in New Zealand eat more meat per person than any other country (Table 2).

The amount of meat people eat is growing by about five million tonnes per year (Table 1).

More & More Meat

The figures of meat consumption in the tables below are based on statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), who started collecting records in 1961. Their statistics show that the average amount of meat consumed per person has doubled over the last 40 years, increasing steadily from 21 kilograms per person in 1961 to 40 kilograms per person in 2002. Most of this growth is in the developing countries as their populations and incomes increase. China, for example, eats over 20 times its 1961 tonnage. However, although China is the biggest meat consuming country (Table 1) the average consumption per Chinese is 52 kg, way below America at 125 kg of meat per human (Table 2) and western European counties, such as Britain, at 80 kg of meat per human. In addition to meat, people are consuming more eggs and milk and this increased consumption has been called the 'Livestock Revolution'.

These FAO statistics exclude fish (see Chapter 7: Fish). To include fish in human meat consumption you might add about an extra third to the tables below (which are for livestock and poultry only). However, the results will still be minimum figures for human meat consumption. You would have to include meat sources, for example bushmeat; wildlife is a significant part of the human menu. For the foreseeable future, perhaps for as long as humanity persists, animals will continue their cataclysmic fall down the abyssal human throat.

Meat Consumption per Country

Table 1. Meat Consumption per Country. Top Ten Countries & Worldwide, 1998 - 2002. Millions of metric tonnes.
	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
China	59	60	64	65	68
United States	33	35	35	35	36
Brazil	12	13	14	14	15
Germany	7	7	7	7	7
Russian Federation	7	6	6	7	7
France	6	6	6	6	6
Japan	5	6	6	6	6
Mexico	5	5	6	6	6
India	5	5	5	5	6
Italy	5	5	5	5	5
World	224	228	234	238	247

Based on statistics collected by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), FAOSTAT on-line statistical service (FAO: Rome, 2005). Earth Trends, World Resources Institute, displays FAO statistics online as the Agriculture and Food Searchable Database. Table 1 is from Meat Consumption: Total

Average Annual Meat Consumption per Human

Table 2. Average Annual Meat Consumption per Human. Top Ten Countries & Worldwide, 1998 - 2002. Kilograms of meat per human.
	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
New Zealand	140	138	122	147	142
Luxembourg	NA	NA	147	134	142
Bahamas	123	141	152	135	124
Denmark	126	130	130	139	146
Cyprus	126	132	134	132	131
United States	120	124	122	120	125
Spain	115	114	112	115	119
French Polynesia	105	103	107	109	112
Canada	103	107	107	108	108
France	102	100	100	103	101
World	38	38	39	39	40

Notes for Tables 1 & 2

FAO defines meat consumption as "...the total meat retained for use in country for each country per year. Total meat includes meat from animals slaughtered in countries, irrespective of their origin, and comprises horsemeat, poultry, and meat from all other domestic or wild animals such as camels, rabbits, reindeer, and game animals."

It is not possible to collect totally accurate statistics about millions of animals from all over the world. As FAO admits, "Data is reported by individual countries, which may have varying capacities for data collection." Therefore the statistics in this entry are only a rough guide to consumed animal tonnage.