List of countries by meat consumption

Last updated January 18, 2024

This is a list of countries by meat consumption. Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food.^[1]

Accuracy

The figures tabulated below do not represent per capita amounts of meat eaten by humans. Instead, they represent FAO figures for carcass mass availability (with "carcass mass" for poultry estimated as ready-to-cook mass),^[2] divided by population. The amount eaten by humans differs from carcass mass availability because the latter does not account for losses, which include bones, losses in retail and food service or home preparation (including trim and cooking), spoilage and "downstream" waste, and amounts consumed by pets (compare dressed weight).^[3]^[4]^[5] As an example of the difference, for 2002, when the FAO figure for US per capita meat consumption was 124.48 kg (274 lb 7 oz), the USDA estimate of US per capita loss-adjusted meat consumption was 62.6 kg (138 lb).^[6]

Additionally, the 2002 FAO study was potentially misleading for countries with high levels of meat export compared to their population, as it relied on production data using full carcass mass availability, whereas exports generally contain less bones, cartilage and other things not typically used for human consumption. For example, the FAO (2002) figure for Denmark, which has one of the highest meat export rates compared to its population, was 145.9 kg (322 lb) (highest in the world). More recent FAO figures (2009) have taken the earlier discrepancy into account, resulting in a significantly lower 95.2 kg (210 lb) for Denmark (13th in the world).^[7]^[8] When further adjusted for loss, calculations by DTU Fødevareinstituttet suggest the actual consumption was 48 kg (106 lb) per adult.^[8]

Meat consumption by country

Countries by meat consumption per capita
Country/Dependency	kg/person (2002)^[9]^{[note 1]}	kg/person (2009)^[10]	kg/person (2017) ^[11]	kg/person (2020)^[12]
Albania	38.2	44.1	41.78	47.51
Algeria	18.4	19.5	20.32	18.06
American Samoa	24.9	26.8
Angola	25	22.4	23.43	23.49
Antigua and Barbuda	56	84.3	74.56	72.05
Argentina	79.7	98.3	112.17	109.39
Armenia	27.7	45.8	41.96	45.64
Australia	108.2	111.5	114.26	121.61
Austria	94.1	102	84.94	87.23
Azerbaijan	15.9	32	33.91	34.08
Bahamas	123.6	109.5	87.93	67.05
Bahrain	70.7
Bangladesh	3.1	4	4.27	4.04
Barbados	88.7	74.5	87.93	71.38
Belarus	58.6	78.4	81.57	81.47
Belgium	86.1	76.9	54.19	65.78
Belize	74.7	42.5	41.07	41.09
Benin	16.2	20.9	16.82	20.24
Bhutan	3
Bolivia	50	59.1	81.98	71.40
Bosnia and Herzegovina	21.4	27.9	40.98	36.03
Botswana	27.3	26.2	24.48	24.44
Brazil	82.4	85.3	99.36	77.32
Bulgaria	69.4	53	57.03	58.32
Burkina Faso	11.2	14.8	12.75	12.00
Burundi	3.5	5.2
Cambodia	13.9	16.6	12.67	12.34
Cameroon	14.4	12.7	12.27	11.98
Canada	108.1	94.3	90.09	82.63
Cape Verde	26.3	46.1	31.93	32.18
Côte d'Ivoire	11.3	13.3	11.22	12.38
Central African Republic	28	33.5	32.13	35.90
Chad	14.3	13	11.56	26.48
Chile	66.4	74.1	86.63	83.17
China	52.4	58.2	61.7	60.60
Colombia	33.9	46.5	57.84	55.91
Comoros	7.6	13.4
Republic of the Congo	13.3	13.4	39.34	40.11
Democratic Republic of the Congo	4.8	5.3
Costa Rica	40.4	51.1	51.06	53.56
Croatia	49.9	66.3	75.19	75.30
Cuba	32.2	49.4	60.24	55.48
Cyprus	131.3	78.1	76.87	72.83
Czech Republic	77.3	83.4	80.43	82.79
Denmark	145.9	95.2	76.87	70.83
Djibouti	17.1	23.7	15.39	15.04
Dominica	67.1	68.6	60.49	55.03
Dominican Republic	37.8	53.7	52.03	55.25
Ecuador	45	56.4	46.04	45.22
Egypt	22.5	25.6	28.51	26.29
El Salvador	21.4	28.3	33.54	30.52
Eritrea	7.7	7.7
Estonia	67.4	59.6	63.43	63.64
Ethiopia	7.9	8.5	7.2	5.40
Fiji	39.1	38.8	41.16	43.85
Finland	67.4	74.8	75.38	76.70
France	101.1	86.7	77.97	83.05
French Guiana	13.2	14.6
French Polynesia	112.2	101.9	89.68	96.09
Gabon	46	66.4	58.24	59.21
The Gambia	5.2	8.1	7.82	7.82
Georgia	26	25.5	31.97	31.83
Germany	82.1	88.1	80.5	87.79
Ghana	9.9	13.9	13.82	13.73
Greece	78.7	74.8	68.65	71.70
Grenada	97	61	57.15	59.40
Guadeloupe	12.7	13.6
Guatemala	23.8	28.8	35.7	36.39
Guinea	6.5	8.6	12.04	13.05
Guinea-Bissau	13	16.2	16.39	17.29
Guyana	31.8	39	45.24	45.22
Haiti	15.3	15.6	17.59	17.61
Honduras	24.7	34.3	32.96	33.09
Hong Kong				137.08
Hungary	100.7	76	79.74	79.73
Iceland	84.8	86.2	89.93	91.02
India	5.2	4.4	3.97	3.78
Indonesia	8.3	11.6	12.42	11.70
Iran	23.1	36.3	37.78	35.98
Ireland	106.3	87.9	76.85	76.85
Israel	97.1	96	97.82	97.02
Italy	90.4	90.7	77.52	80.96
Jamaica	56.8	59.1	58.96	58.97
Japan	45.9	45.9	49.34	49.33
Jordan	29.8	42	35.31	37.91
Kazakhstan	44.8	62.6	64.49	64.89
Kenya	14.3	16.7	15.26	15.94
Kiribati	32.1	38.5	29.29	29.96
Kuwait	60.2	119.2	67.46	67.12
Kyrgyzstan	39	36.9	30.21	30.46
Laos	15	21.3	24.63	30.41
Latvia	45.7	61.5	68.72	68.73
Lebanon	63.1	58.8	29.52	23.97
Lesotho	15.4	18.3	27.13	19.89
Liberia	7.9	10.4	18.37	18.27
Libya	28.6	33.5
Lithuania	49.5	78.2	81.25	81.28
Luxembourg	141.7	107.9	80.08	80.08
Macao				103.15
Madagascar	17.6	14.7	13.24	12.34
Malawi	5.1	8.3	10.96	20.34
Malaysia	50.9	52.3	53.12	52.90
Maldives	16.6	21.6	20.22	20.61
Mali	19	22.2	23.46	23.68
Malta	86.9	84.5	81.1	82.06
Mauritania	29.9	29.7	31.25	31.06
Mauritius	39.6	49.4	50.95	50.90
Mexico	58.6	63.8	67.54	64.88
Moldova	22.7	26.8		38.12
Mongolia	108.8	82.1	87.9	88.38
Montenegro		57.7	76.39	73.01
Morocco	20.6	30.1	34.62	35.12
Mozambique	5.6	7.8	8.28	9.39
Myanmar	10.7	32.1	44.69	58.25
Namibia	34	28.3	31.76	30.53
Nepal	10	9.9	13.79	13.55
Netherlands	89.3	85.5	64.5	75.82
Netherlands Antilles	73.3	91
New Caledonia	76.6	72.6	73.16	68.61
New Zealand	142.1	106.4	87.95	100.90
Nicaragua	14.9	25.3	30.77	30.82
Niger	11.2	25.6	8.74	12.75
Nigeria	8.6	8.8	7.33	7.15
Norway	61.7	66	67.62	67.47
North Korea	10.8	13.4		13.67
North Macedonia	35.4	40.8		36.62
Oman	49.8		43.34	43.34
Pakistan	12.3	14.7	16.01	16.87
Panama	54.5	63.5	64.67	65.02
Papua New Guinea	73
Paraguay	70.3	41.9	42.35	54.07
Peru	34.5	20.8	23.78	24.41
Philippines	31.1	33.6	36.6	37.04
Poland	78.1	76.9	88.67	88.71
Portugal	91.1	93.4	90.99	94.07
Qatar	90.5
Reunion	46.8
Romania	54.5	64.7	67.87	63.92
Russia	51	69.2	85.95	87.81
Rwanda	4.4	6.5	7.93	9.08
Saint Kitts and Nevis	99.3	70.8	87.31	82.51
Saint Lucia	124.1	93.6	91.82	90.90
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	79.1	91.4	93.38	91.05
Samoa	82.6	87.2	97.76	96.68
Sao Tome and Principe	9.6	16.5	14.83	14.18
Saudi Arabia	44.6	54.4	49.17	54.13
Senegal	17.7	15.8	15.2	14.13
Serbia		45.2	56	53.49
Seychelles	51.1	35.6
Sierra Leone	6.1	7.3	8.55	8.23
Singapore	71.1
Slovakia	67.4	60.4	58.25	59.35
Slovenia	88	88.3	73.14	76.40
Solomon Islands	9.7	11.9	11.75	11.74
South Africa	39	58.6	62.49	60.03
South Korea	48	54.1	55.89	70.71
Spain	118.6	97		100.26
Sri Lanka	6.6	6.3	6.5	9.04
Sudan	21	19.1	20.97	21.39
Suriname	40.3	47.5	44.32	42.40
Swaziland	34.2	26.9	25.75
Sweden	76.1	80.2	74.04	77.07
Switzerland	72.9	74.7	66.1	67.54
Syria	21.2	22.8
Taiwan				77.57
Tajikistan	8.7	14.7	14.73	16.47
Thailand	27.9	25.8	28.96	27.37
Timor-Leste	41.3	33.8	31.29	31.51
Tanzania	10	9.6
Togo	8.5	11.7	12.1	12.58
Trinidad and Tobago	57.8	47.7	75.5	68.66
Tunisia	25.5	25.9	28.45	28.36
Turkey	19.3	25.3	39.97	38.87
Turkmenistan	41.7	58.6	55.73	60.22
Uganda	11.7	11	11.55	9.69
Ukraine	32.3	48.5	48.49	46.92
United Arab Emirates	74.4	73.8	68.59	62.03
United Kingdom	79.6	84.2	79.86	79.90
United States of America	124.8	120.2	121	124.11
Uruguay	98.6	55.3	56.44	57.70
Uzbekistan	20.7	28.4	35.39	34.41
Vanuatu	32.6	35.4	38.32	36.03
Venezuela	56.6	76.8	36.12	40.94
Vietnam	28.6	49.9	64.68	63.34
Yemen	14.7	17.9	12.51	16.86
Zambia	11.9	12.3	14.19	13.12
Zimbabwe	15.2	21.3	17.61	17.67

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), FAOSTAT on-line statistical service (FAO, Rome, 2004). Available online at: http://faostat3.fao.org/ Archived 15 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine
Meat consumption per capita refers to the total meat retained for use in country per person 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
Per capita (person) calculations were conducted by WRI using FAO data on meat production and trade, and using U.N. data on population. Meat consumption was calculated using a trade balance approach - total production plus imports, minus exports.

Notes

↑ These are the original numbers reported by the FAO in 2002. They were changed by the FAO in later updates^[10] (following the same standardized system they used in 2009)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meat</span> Animal flesh eaten as food

Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged other animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chickens, sheep, rabbits, pigs, and cattle. This eventually led to their use in meat production on an industrial scale in slaughterhouses.

Poultry are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of harvesting useful animal products such as meat, eggs or feathers. The practice of raising poultry is known as poultry farming. These birds are most typically members of the superorder Galloanserae (fowl), especially the order Galliformes. The term also includes waterfowls of the family Anatidae and other flying birds that are kept and killed for their meat such as the young pigeons, but does not include wild birds hunted for food known as game or quarry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beef</span> Meat from cattle

Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle. Beef can be prepared in various ways; cuts are often used for steak, which can be cooked to varying degrees of doneness, while trimmings are often ground or minced, as found in most hamburgers. Beef contains protein, iron, and vitamin B12. Along with other kinds of red meat, high consumption is associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer and coronary heart disease, especially when processed. Beef has a high environmental impact, being a primary driver of deforestation with the highest greenhouse gas emissions of any agricultural product.

Lamb, hogget, and mutton, generically sheep meat, are the meat of domestic sheep, Ovis aries. A sheep in its first year is a lamb and its meat is also lamb. The meat from sheep in their second year is hogget. Older sheep meat is mutton. Generally, "hogget" and "sheep meat" are not used by consumers outside Norway, New Zealand, South Africa, Scotland, and Australia. Hogget has become more common in England, particularly in the North often in association with rare breed and organic farming.

The meat industry are the people and companies engaged in modern industrialized livestock agriculture for the production, packing, preservation and marketing of meat. In economics, the meat industry is a fusion of primary (agriculture) and secondary (industry) activity and hard to characterize strictly in terms of either one alone. The greater part of the meat industry is the meat packing industry – the segment that handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of animals such as poultry, cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock.

Environmental vegetarianism is the practice of vegetarianism that is motivated by the desire to create a sustainable diet, which avoids the negative environmental impact of meat production. Livestock as a whole is estimated to be responsible for around 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, significant reduction in meat consumption has been advocated by, among others, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in their 2019 special report and as part of the 2017 World Scientists' Warning to Humanity.

An animal product is any material derived from the body of a non-human animal. Examples are fat, flesh, blood, milk, eggs, and lesser known products, such as isinglass and rennet.

In animal husbandry, feed conversion ratio (FCR) or feed conversion rate is a ratio or rate measuring of the efficiency with which the bodies of livestock convert animal feed into the desired output. For dairy cows, for example, the output is milk, whereas in animals raised for meat the output is the flesh, that is, the body mass gained by the animal, represented either in the final mass of the animal or the mass of the dressed output. FCR is the mass of the input divided by the output. In some sectors, feed efficiency, which is the output divided by the input, is used. These concepts are also closely related to efficiency of conversion of ingested foods (ECI).

The New Hampshire Red or New Hampshire is an American breed of chicken. It was developed in the early twentieth century in the state of New Hampshire by selective breeding of Rhode Island Red stock; no other breed was involved. It is fast-growing, early-maturing, quick-feathering, and yields a meaty carcass. Mature birds are a light or medium red in color; they may fade in sunlight.

The Magpie is a British breed of domestic duck. It has distinctive black and white markings reminiscent of the European magpie, and is a good layer of large eggs.

The Western pattern diet is a modern dietary pattern that is generally characterized by high intakes of pre-packaged foods, refined grains, red meat, processed meat, high-sugar drinks, candy and sweets, fried foods, industrially produced animal products, butter and other high-fat dairy products, eggs, potatoes, corn, and low intakes of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, pasture-raised animal products, fish, nuts, and seeds.

Benin is predominantly a rural society, and agriculture in Benin supports more than 70% of the population. Agriculture contributes around 35% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) and 80% of export income. While the Government of Benin (GOB) aims to diversify its agricultural production, Benin remains underdeveloped, and its economy is underpinned by subsistence agriculture. Approximately 93% of total agricultural production goes into food production. The proportion of the population living in poverty is about 35.2%, with more rural households in poverty (38.4%) than urban households (29.8%). 36% of households depend solely upon agricultural (crop) production for income, and another 30% depend on crop production, livestock, or fishing for income.

Farm water, also known as agricultural water, is water committed for use in the production of food and fibre and collecting for further resources. In the US, some 80% of the fresh water withdrawn from rivers and groundwater is used to produce food and other agricultural products. Farm water may include water used in the irrigation of crops or the watering of livestock. Its study is called agricultural hydrology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pork</span> Meat from a pig

Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the pig. It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE.

The FAO Country Profiles is a multilingual web portal that repackages the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) information archive on its global activities in agriculture and food security in a single area and catalogues it exclusively by country and thematic areas.

Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting in order to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals who are raised for consumption, and sometimes used to refer solely to farmed ruminants, such as cattle, sheep, and goats. Horses are considered livestock in the United States. The USDA classifies pork, veal, beef, and lamb (mutton) as livestock, and all livestock as red meat. Poultry and fish are not included in the category. The latter is likely due to the fact that fish products are not governed by the USDA, but by the FDA.

Dietary exposure assessments in the United States involve the evaluation of dietary consumption and chemical residue data while taking into consideration additional factors that may affect a specified population of interest or sensitive population. The process of conducting a dietary exposure assessment involves the determination of the chemical residues on a particular food or foods and the calculation of the dietary exposure to these chemicals based on consumption data for the specified food or foods. A dietary exposure assessment allows a comparison to a relevant health standard such as the acceptable daily intake(ADI), the acute reference dose.

A staple food, food staple, or simply staple, is a food that is eaten often and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a standard diet for an individual or a population group, supplying a large fraction of energy needs and generally forming a significant proportion of the intake of other nutrients as well. For humans, a staple food of a specific society may be eaten as often as every day or every meal, and most people live on a diet based on just a small variety of food staples. Specific staples vary from place to place, but typically are inexpensive or readily available foods that supply one or more of the macronutrients and micronutrients needed for survival and health: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals, and vitamins. Typical examples include grains, seeds, nuts and root vegetables. Among them, cereals, legumes and tubers account for about 90% of the world's food calorie intake.

Antibiotic use in the United States poultry farming industry is the controversial prophylactic use of antibiotics in the country's poultry farming industry. It differs from the common practice in Europe, where antibiotics for growth promotion were disallowed in the 1950s.

References

↑ Lawrie, R. A.; Ledward, D. A. (2006). Lawrie's meat science (7th ed.). Cambridge: Woodhead Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-1-84569-159-2.
↑ faostat. (Statistical database of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Methods and Standards. http://faostat3.fao.org/mes/methodology_list/E
↑ Loss-adjusted food availability documentation. United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-availability-per-capita-data-system/loss-adjusted-food-availability-documentation/
↑ Buzby, J. C. H. F. Wells, B. Axtman and J. Mickey. 2009. Supermarket loss estimates for fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry, and seafood and their use in the ERS loss-adjusted food availability data. United States Department of Agriculture. Econ. Infor. Bull. EIB-44. 26 pp.
↑ Muth, M. K., S. A.Karns, S. J. Nielsen, J. C. Buzby and H. F. Wells. 2011. Consumer-level food loss estimates and their use in the ERS loss-adjusted food availability data. United States Department of Agriculture Tech. Bull. TB-1927. 123 pp.
↑ Food availability (per capita) data system. (Excel files). United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-availability-(per-capita)-data-system/.aspx#26705
↑ Foodculture.dk (11 March 2013). "Forkerte tal om danskernes forbrug fordrejer køddebatten" . Retrieved 31 May 2016.
1 2 Landbrug & Fødevarer (14 August 2013). "Danskernes forbrug af kød". Archived from the original on 25 September 2013. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
↑ "Meat consumption per capita". The Guardian. 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
1 2 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) (2013). "Current Worldwide Annual Meat Consumption per capita". ChartsBin. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
↑ Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) (2017). "Food balances data 2017". FAO.org. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
↑ "Daily meat consumption per person". Our World in Data. 2020. Archived from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2022.

External links

"FAO's Animal Production and Health Division: Meat & Meat Products". fao.org. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
"Agricultural output - Meat consumption". theOECD. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
"Meat Atlas 2021, facts and figures about animals we eat" (PDF). Friends of the Earth, Heinrich Böll Foundation, Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland. September 2021. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
Brown, Felicity (2 September 2009). "Meat consumption per capita". TheGuardian.com . Retrieved 3 September 2014.

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[11] These are the original numbers reported by the FAO in 2002. They were changed by the FAO in later updates^[10] (following the same standardized system they used in 2009)

[Lawrie-1] Lawrie, R. A.; Ledward, D. A. (2006). Lawrie's meat science (7th ed.). Cambridge: Woodhead Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-1-84569-159-2.

[2] stat. (Statistical database of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Methods and Standards. http://faostat3.fao.org/mes/methodology_list/E

[3] Loss-adjusted food availability documentation. United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-availability-per-capita-data-system/loss-adjusted-food-availability-documentation/

[4] Buzby, J. C. H. F. Wells, B. Axtman and J. Mickey. 2009. Supermarket loss estimates for fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry, and seafood and their use in the ERS loss-adjusted food availability data. United States Department of Agriculture. Econ. Infor. Bull. EIB-44. 26 pp.

[5] Muth, M. K., S. A.Karns, S. J. Nielsen, J. C. Buzby and H. F. Wells. 2011. Consumer-level food loss estimates and their use in the ERS loss-adjusted food availability data. United States Department of Agriculture Tech. Bull. TB-1927. 123 pp.

[6] Food availability (per capita) data system. (Excel files). United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-availability-(per-capita)-data-system/.aspx#26705

[FCDen-7] Foodculture.dk (11 March 2013). "Forkerte tal om danskernes forbrug fordrejer køddebatten" . Retrieved 31 May 2016.

[LFDen-8] 1 2 Landbrug & Fødevarer (14 August 2013). "Danskernes forbrug af kød". Archived from the original on 25 September 2013. Retrieved 31 May 2016.

[9] "Meat consumption per capita". The Guardian. 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2019.

[FAO2013-10] 1 2 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) (2013). "Current Worldwide Annual Meat Consumption per capita". ChartsBin. Retrieved 21 February 2019.

[FAO2017-12] Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) (2017). "Food balances data 2017". FAO.org. Retrieved 10 September 2021.

[13] "Daily meat consumption per person". Our World in Data. 2020. Archived from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2022.

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