Eating meat: the consequences for animals, environment, climate and world food |
Eating meat: facts and figures
 Eating meat seems a personal choice, but it has consequences for the whole world: for animals, for nature, for the climate and for people who go hungry. On this page we list the most important facts.
Meat worldwide
- In 2024 the world produced about 379 million tonnes of meat (FAO), more than ever before. Poultry is growing fastest.
- More than 80 billion land animals are slaughtered for meat every year, the vast majority of them chickens. On top of that come many billions of fish.
- The average person in the world eats about 42 kilos of meat a year (2022). But the differences are huge: in the United States it is around 120 kilos, while in many countries in Africa and South Asia it is less than 10 kilos.
- Rich countries eat the most meat, but consumption is rising fastest in countries where incomes are rising, such as China, Brazil and Vietnam.
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Meat production wastes food
Worldwide more than a third of all grain goes to animals: in 2024 about 1,070 million tonnes out of almost 2,850 million tonnes (FAO). Producing 1 kilo of animal protein takes several kilos of plant protein. In this way an enormous amount of food is lost as animal feed.
Land use
Livestock farming uses about 77 percent of all agricultural land worldwide: pastures plus fields for animal feed. Yet it provides only 18 percent of all calories and 37 percent of all protein that people eat (Poore and Nemecek, 2018). Rich countries also use a lot of land in other countries for their livestock, especially for soy from Brazil and Argentina. Europe alone imports more than 30 million tonnes of soy every year, most of it as animal feed. With the Global Footprint this space can be expressed in hectares.
Daily meat consumption per person by region (The Lancet, 2007)
Intake of animal products from 1962, with a projection to 2050 (The Lancet, 2007)
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Meat production pollutes the environment
Agriculture causes more than 80 percent of all ammonia emissions worldwide, mostly from livestock manure. Ammonia falls on nature as nitrogen and damages forests, heathland and other nature. In countries with a lot of livestock this is a serious problem. In the Netherlands, for example, almost 90 percent of ammonia comes from agriculture and most protected nature receives more nitrogen than it can tolerate (read more).
Meat also takes a lot of water. According to the Water Footprint Network, 1 kilo of beef takes on average 15,400 litres of water, 1 kilo of pork 6,000 litres and 1 kilo of chicken 4,300 litres. For 1 kilo of grain it is about 1,600 litres. |
Meat production wastes energy and harms the climate
According to the FAO, livestock farming worldwide is responsible for about 12 percent of all greenhouse gases emitted by humans. Earlier estimates came to 14.5 percent (2013) and 18 percent (2006).
Converting plant protein into animal protein also loses a lot of nutrients and energy. A pig needs about 3 kilos of feed for 1 kilo of meat, a chicken about one and a half kilos; for cattle it is much more. |
Meat production costs lives
Every second, about 2,400 chickens, 47 pigs and 10 cows are slaughtered somewhere in the world. Even a small country like the Netherlands slaughters more than half a billion animals a year, mostly for export. On top of that, many fish are caught and farmed (see fish). Anyone who does not eat meat spares the lives of hundreds of animals in a lifetime.
If less meat were produced in factory farming, there would be less animal suffering and much less food would be wasted. Countries that produce meat mainly for export, like the Netherlands, could start there. Read more about the objections to factory farming.
World hunger
In 2024 about 673 million people worldwide suffered from hunger: 8.2 percent of the world population (FAO, 2025). Undernutrition plays a role in about 45 percent of all deaths of children under five. In 2024, 4.9 million young children died, so every day some 6,000 children die partly because of undernutrition. There is enough food in the world to feed everyone. It would be better if people in rich countries ate less meat and if plant food were shared more fairly.
Arguments for and against eating meat can be found here. What if you took your own principles seriously? |
Meat and health
Meat and dairy are not necessary to stay healthy. Eating a lot of meat is even unhealthy. In 2015 the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization concluded that processed meat, such as sausages and ham, can cause bowel cancer. Red meat is probably carcinogenic. More and more countries advise eating much less meat. Since 2024 the German Nutrition Society advises no more than 300 grams of meat and sausage a week. Since 2025 the Health Council of the Netherlands advises no more than 200 grams of red meat a week, with more pulses and nuts instead.
 The vegetarian food pyramid shows at a glance which foods belong to a healthy vegetarian lifestyle and which are less important. It is a guide, not a fixed rule. The lower a food is in the pyramid, the more important it is. Sweets are at the top: you only need a little of them.
Do you get enough nutrients every day?
Check it with this very short checklist!
Sources: FAO, Meat Market Review; Our World in Data, land animals slaughtered for meat and meat supply per person; FAO, Food Outlook November 2024; Our World in Data / Poore and Nemecek (2018); PNAS (2022), agricultural ammonia emissions; Mekonnen and Hoekstra, Water Footprint Network; FAO, Pathways towards lower emissions (2023); FAO, SOFI 2025; UNICEF, Levels and trends in child mortality 2025; German Nutrition Society (DGE, 2024); Health Council of the Netherlands (2025). Updated October 2026.
See also: Right agriculture policies can promote healthy diets. |
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