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Frequently asked questions
How many farm animals are there in the world?
There are nearly 30 billion farm animals on the planet at any given time, and more than 80 billion are slaughtered each year. Global production and consumption of animal-based food is increasing. Reducing and replacing animal-based food consumption will deliver multiple benefits for people, planet and animals.
How much protein and energy do animal-based foods provide?
Animal-based foods provide 37% of the protein and 18% of the calories in the global food supply, based on FAO food-balance data. The rest comes from plant-based foods. At the same time, farmed animals dominate mammal life on earth: wild mammals account for only 6% of mammal biomass.
Why do figures on meat consumption differ?
FAO figures describe the supply of meat, which is based on the carcass weight of animals and not corrected for waste and losses, so they can be higher than actual consumption. The OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook converts carcass weight to retail weight with factors of 0.67 for beef, 0.73 for pigmeat, 0.6 for poultry and 0.66 for sheepmeat.
Is a shift from red meat to chicken a solution?
Poultry is the fastest-growing meat, both in total and as a share of meat consumption, but this white-meat shift has risks. Chickens need 3-5 kg of protein from feed to produce 1 kg of animal-based protein, intensive livestock operations raise the risk of zoonotic outbreaks, and poultry manure pollutes air, water and soils.
What is the Planetary Health Diet?
The Planetary Health Diet is a plant-forward diet developed by the EAT-Lancet Commission, with an emphasis on whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes. It was designed as a healthy diet that stays within planetary boundaries. FoodSystemData compares each country’s current meat consumption with the reduction needed to follow it.