World Meat Production and Consumption

World Meat Production and Consumption

• Livestock covers 45% of the earth’s total land. (Livestock Exchange, 2011)

• Worldwide, there are about 70 billion farm animals raised for food every year. 6 million animals are killed for food every hour. (A Well Fed World)

• Raising livestock accounts for roughly 23 percent of all global water use in agriculture, equivalent to 1.15 liters of water per person per day. (Worldwatch Institute, 2011)

• Worldwide, between 1971 and 2010, production of meat tripled to around 600 billion pounds while the global population grew by 81 percent. (Environmental Working Group, EWG)Globally, meat consumption increased by 58 percent between 1998 and 2018. (Sentient Media)

• Animal agriculture and meat production now accounts for a whopping 37 percent of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, producing 40 percent of the world’s methane and 65 percent of the world’s nitrous oxide. (Worldwatch Institute, 2011)

• Worldwide meat production has tripled over the last four decades and increased 20 percent in just the last 10 years. Industrial countries consume nearly double the quantity of meat than in developing countries. (Worldwatch Institute, 2011)

• The world’s average meat consumption per person in 2007 was 102 pounds, the U.S. is the 2^nd highest meat consuming nation in the world with an average of 270 pounds consumed per person per year, more than triple the world’s average. (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO, 2010)

• Factory farms now account for 72% of poultry production, 43% of egg production and 55% of pork production globally. Much of the vigorous growth in meat production is due to the rise of industrial animal agriculture or factory farming. (Worldwatch Institute)

• In 2012, pork was the most popular meat consumed in the world, totaling 37% of all meat eaten and produced, some 109 million tons worldwide. Poultry was second with 101 tons million produced. (Worldwatch Institute)

• The global livestock sector is growing faster than any other agricultural sub-sector. Global meat production is projected to more than double from 229 million tons in 1999/2001 to 465 million tons in 2050, while milk output is set to climb from 580 to 1043 million tons. (Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO)

• In 2011, 297 million tons of meat was produced globally, up .8% from 2010, with meat production to hit a target of 302 million tons in 2012. Global meat production grew 20% from 2001 to 2012. (Worldwatch Institute, 2011)

• Poultry production is the fastest growing meat sector, increasing 4.7 percent in 2010 to 98 million tons. (Worldwatch Institute, 2011)

• Worldwide, per capita meat consumption increased from 41.3 kilograms in 2009 to 41.9 kilograms in 2010. People In the developing world eat 32 kilograms of meat a year on average, compared to 80 kilograms per person in the industrial world. (Worldwatch Institute, 2011)

• Demand for livestock products will nearly double in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, from 200 kilocalories per person per day in 2000 to some 400 kilocalories in 2050. (Worldwatch Institute, 2011)

• An estimated 11 percent of deaths in men and 16 percent of deaths in women worldwide could be prevented if people decreased their red meat consumption to the level of the group that ate the least. Eating organic, pasture-raised animals can be healthier and environmentally beneficial compared to industrial feedlot systems. (Worldwatch Institute, 2011)