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Meat production has doubled in the thirty years from 1988 to 2018 and has quadrupled since the mid-1960s. And production is expected to continue to grow.
Nowadays, globally, we devour approximately 350 million tons of meat every year. The consumption of meat ranges broadly within nations.
Meat consumption is highest across prosperous nations. According to The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the average North American and European consume more than 110 kg and nearly 80 kg, respectively.
Nevertheless, shifts in consumption in North American and European nations have been much slower – with most standing or declining over the last fifty years.
On the other end of the spectrum, many African nations. Meat consumption in Africa varies greatly. Some nations consume less than 20 kg per person, about half of the continental average. Higher-income countries such as South Africa consume almost 70 kg per person.
I made a map of the world showing meat consumption per person, using the latest data from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
This map tells an intriguing story. The deep reds across North America, Australia, and Argentina highlight the world’s beef belts, where cattle ranching has deep historical roots. The lighter shades across much of Africa and South Asia point to different cultural and economic realities.
The Great Divide
The differences between nations are striking. Americans consume about 124 kg of meat per person annually – that’s roughly the weight of two adults. Meanwhile, in India, the average person eats just 3.8 kg of meat per year. These contrasts reflect deep-rooted cultural and religious traditions, but they’re also changing.
Take Brazil, for example. This South American nation has transformed from a modest meat consumer to one of the world’s leading meat producers and consumers. Brazilians now eat nearly 100 kg of meat per person annually, reflecting their country’s economic rise and the global reach of their meat industry.
The top meat-eating countries (kg per person per year):
United States – 124.1 kg
Australia – 121.6 kg
Argentina – 109.4 kg
New Zealand – 100.9 kg
Spain – 100.3 kg
Brazil – 99.8 kg
Israel – 97.0 kg
Samoa – 96.7 kg
Portugal – 94.0 kg
St. Vincent & the Grenadines – 91.0 kg
The top countries that eat the least meat
India – 3.78 kg
Bangladesh – 4.04 kg
Ethiopia – 5.4 kg
Nigeria – 7.15 kg
The Gambia – 7.82 kg
Sierra Leone – 8.23 kg
Afghanistan – 8.59 kg
Sri Lanka – 9.04 kg
Rwanda – 9.08 kg
Tanzania – 9.22 kg
Looking to the Future
The world population has experienced fast growth, particularly at the end of the XXth century. That is why we have seen rapid growth in the production and consumption of meat lately.
The global animated map below shows how meat consumption has increased per capita during the last few decades.
The increase in per-person meat consumption has been most marked in countries that have undergone a robust economic change – per person consumption in China has increased almost fifteenfold since 1961.
The principal exemption to this model has been India. Because of lactovegetarian preferences in India, meat consumption has changed little per capita and has remained almost the same as in 1961, with less than 4 kilograms per person.
Understanding Our World Through Food
For those interested in diving deeper into global patterns and distributions, these detailed world maps available on Amazon offer fascinating perspectives:
