Animal Rights Encyclopedia - Meat Statistics

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Meat Statistics

This entry summarises the amount of meat people eat worldwide and is based on official statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Animals and meat on this page mean livestock and poultry and exclude sea food (see Fish Statistics).

Summary

People eat about 250,000,000 tonnes of meat annually worldwide (Table 1).
China consumes more meat than any other country (Table 1), but not on average per person (Table 2).
Each human eats 40 kilograms of meat annually on average worldwide (Table 2).
On average each person in the top ten meat-eating countries eats 123 kilograms of meat per year (Table 2).
New Zealanders are the top meat eaters, on average eating 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). FAO 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 eating country (Table 1) the average consumption per Chinese is 52 kg per year, way below America at 125 kg of meat per human per year (Table 2) and western European counties, such as Britain at 80 kg of meat per human annually. In addition to meat, people are consuming more eggs and milk and this increased consumption has been called the 'Livestock Revolution'.

Minimum Human Meat Consumption

These FAO statistics exclude 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 of human meat consumption. 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 on this page are only a rough guide to consumed animal tonnage and should be look upon as minimum figures.

Lamb

Table 1. Meat Consumption per Country. Top Ten Countries & Worldwide, 1998 - 2002. Meat in this Table means livestock and poultry only. 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

For the source of these figures see Notes for Tables 1 & 2, below.

Average Annual Meat Consumption per Human

Table 2. Average Annual Meat Consumption per Human. Top Ten Countries & Worldwide, 1998 - 2002. Meat in this Table means livestock and poultry. 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

For the source of these figures see Notes for Tables 1 & 2, below.

Notes for Tables 1 & 2

Figures from Tables 1 and Table 2 are 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 and Table 2 is from Meat Consumption per Capita (both accessed online February 2008).

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."

Lamb

Conclusion

For the foreseeable future, perhaps for as long as humanity persists, billions of animals will continue their cataclysmic fall every year down the abyssal human throat.

CLICK TO BUY PRINT (Main text for translation: We live in an animal holocaust. Every year worldwide people kill at least 40 billion chickens, one billion pigs, 35 million furbearers, 300 million beef cattle, 40 million lab animals, 500 million sheep and goats, 130 million tonnes of fish...and that's not all.)

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Page revised Nov 2010.
Web site established Nov 2009.

Meat Statistics

Summary

Table 1. Meat Consumption per Country. Top Ten Countries & Worldwide, 1998 - 2002. Meat in this Table means livestock and poultry only. Millions of metric tonnes.

For the source of these figures see Notes for Tables 1 & 2, below.

Table 2. Average Annual Meat Consumption per Human. Top Ten Countries & Worldwide, 1998 - 2002. Meat in this Table means livestock and poultry. Kilograms of meat per human.

For the source of these figures see Notes for Tables 1 & 2, below.

Table 1. Meat Consumption per Country.
Top Ten Countries & Worldwide, 1998 - 2002.
Meat in this Table means livestock and poultry only.
Millions of metric tonnes.

Table 2. Average Annual Meat Consumption per Human.
Top Ten Countries & Worldwide, 1998 - 2002.
Meat in this Table means livestock and poultry.
Kilograms of meat per human.