Updated 29 October 2018
How many animals are slaughtered each year? Stepping through the FAOSTAT maze to find the "FAO kill numbers".
Many animal rights/vegan websites have published the number of animals (divided by species) that are slaughtered each year (worldwide - or divided by country).
NOTE: You can also do this search in French or Spanish.
The FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations) statistics website "FAOSTAT" makes these numbers available to you quite easily and neatly presented - but the numbers can be a little hard to find (my opinion). Also there have been several versions of the FAOSTAT website existing in parallel (old and new versions) making it a bit tricky for the average animal rights activist (or whoever) to be sure they've found the right numbers.
Long story short - follow these steps (they will lead you to the "FAO kill numbers"):
NOTE: Animals who live in the sea are not included. The word "to slaughter" is commonly understood as referring to only "land animals" (including chickens, ducks, turkey, and other birds).
1) Use Firefox (with Google Chrome I cannot highlight the table at the end, but the rest works, too.) Go to FAOSTAT http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#home
On FAOSTAT select the following options:
2) Top left, click "Data"
3)
- Production à Select "Livestock Primary" (There is no direct link to this page.)
- top left: Regions à Select "World + (Total)"
- top right: Select "Producing Animals/Slaughtered"
- bottom left: items aggregated --> "Meat, Total > (List)"
-bottom right: Select "2016" [or whichever year is the latest available. As of October 2018, the latest availble is 2016.]
- very bottom left: Output Type: Select "Pivot"
- very bottom middle: Thousand Separator in 'Show Data': Select "Comma" [or the one you prefer] [Select "None" = neither comma nor period (= decimal point) if you want to copy the final chart into Excel and create a pie chart/other chart.]
- very bottom right: Output Formatting Options: Untick "Flags" and "Codes" - leave only "Units" ticked ["Units" = number of individual animals slaughtered]
4) Click "Show Data"
5) Select (highlight) the entire table shown. Copy and paste this table into a Word document (or something of the kind).
(nes = not elsewhere specified)
6) "1000 Head" means you have to multiply the given number by 1000.
Read, for example:
- about 300 million cattle per year (slaughtered worldwide)
- about 62 billion (6.2 x 10^10, or "62 thousand million") per year (slaughtered worldwide)
(These numbers are for the year 2014, the latest global numbers available.)
--------------------------------
Definitions (http://www.fao.org/es/faodef/fdef16e.htm)
How many animals are slaughtered each year? Stepping through the FAOSTAT maze to find the "FAO kill numbers".
Many animal rights/vegan websites have published the number of animals (divided by species) that are slaughtered each year (worldwide - or divided by country).
NOTE: You can also do this search in French or Spanish.
The FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations) statistics website "FAOSTAT" makes these numbers available to you quite easily and neatly presented - but the numbers can be a little hard to find (my opinion). Also there have been several versions of the FAOSTAT website existing in parallel (old and new versions) making it a bit tricky for the average animal rights activist (or whoever) to be sure they've found the right numbers.
Long story short - follow these steps (they will lead you to the "FAO kill numbers"):
NOTE: Animals who live in the sea are not included. The word "to slaughter" is commonly understood as referring to only "land animals" (including chickens, ducks, turkey, and other birds).
1) Use Firefox (with Google Chrome I cannot highlight the table at the end, but the rest works, too.) Go to FAOSTAT http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#home
On FAOSTAT select the following options:
2) Top left, click "Data"
3)
- Production à Select "Livestock Primary" (There is no direct link to this page.)
- top left: Regions à Select "World + (Total)"
- top right: Select "Producing Animals/Slaughtered"
- bottom left: items aggregated --> "Meat, Total > (List)"
-bottom right: Select "2016" [or whichever year is the latest available. As of October 2018, the latest availble is 2016.]
- very bottom left: Output Type: Select "Pivot"
- very bottom middle: Thousand Separator in 'Show Data': Select "Comma" [or the one you prefer] [Select "None" = neither comma nor period (= decimal point) if you want to copy the final chart into Excel and create a pie chart/other chart.]
- very bottom right: Output Formatting Options: Untick "Flags" and "Codes" - leave only "Units" ticked ["Units" = number of individual animals slaughtered]
4) Click "Show Data"
5) Select (highlight) the entire table shown. Copy and paste this table into a Word document (or something of the kind).
All
|
-World
|
-Producing Animals/Slaughtered
|
Meat, ass
|
Head
|
2,701,670
|
Meat, bird nes
|
1000 Head
|
58,781
|
|||
Meat, buffalo
|
Head
|
26,220,078
|
|||
Meat, camel
|
Head
|
3,129,069
|
|||
Meat, cattle
|
Head
|
300,074,797
|
|||
Meat, chicken
|
1000 Head
|
62,005,780
|
|||
Meat, duck
|
1000 Head
|
2,858,773
|
|||
Meat, goat
|
Head
|
444,168,894
|
|||
Meat, goose and guinea fowl
|
1000 Head
|
662,823
|
|||
Meat, horse
|
Head
|
4,803,585
|
|||
Meat, mule
|
Head
|
513,739
|
|||
Meat, other camelids
|
Head
|
952,926
|
|||
Meat, other rodents
|
1000 Head
|
70,280
|
|||
Meat, pig
|
Head
|
1,473,628,702
|
|||
Meat, rabbit
|
1000 Head
|
1,068,470
|
|||
Meat, sheep
|
Head
|
545,078,664
|
|||
Meat, turkey
|
1000 Head
|
648,739
|
(nes = not elsewhere specified)
6) "1000 Head" means you have to multiply the given number by 1000.
Read, for example:
- about 300 million cattle per year (slaughtered worldwide)
- about 62 billion (6.2 x 10^10, or "62 thousand million") per year (slaughtered worldwide)
(These numbers are for the year 2014, the latest global numbers available.)
Numbers of individual animals slaughtered worldwide (2014)
|
|
Meat, ass
|
2,701,670
|
Meat, bird nes
|
58,781,000
|
Meat, buffalo
|
26,220,078
|
Meat, camel
|
3,129,069
|
Meat, cattle
|
300,074,797
|
Meat, chicken
|
62,005,780,000
|
Meat, duck
|
2,858,773,000
|
Meat, goat
|
444,168,894
|
Meat, goose and guinea fowl
|
662,823,000
|
Meat, horse
|
4,803,585
|
Meat, mule
|
513,739
|
Meat, other camelids
|
952,926
|
Meat, other rodents
|
70,280,000
|
Meat, pig
|
1,473,628,702
|
Meat, rabbit
|
1,068,470,000
|
Meat, sheep
|
545,078,664
|
Meat, turkey
|
648,739,000
|
--------------------------------
Definitions (http://www.fao.org/es/faodef/fdef16e.htm)
"DEFINITION AND CLASSIFICATION OF COMMODITIES [!]
(Draft)
16. LIVESTOCK"
The term "LIVESTOCK" is used in a broad sense to cover all grown
animals regardless of age, location or purpose of breeding.
Non-domesticated animals are excluded under this definition unless
they are kept or raised in captivity. Domestic animals included are
large and small quadrupeds, poultry, insects (bees) and larvae of
insects (silkworms).
Figures on livestock numbers should refer to live animals enumerated
on a given day or on several consecutive days. The FAO practice is
that figures for an indicated year relate to animals reported by
countries for any day between October of the previous year
and September of the year indicated.
Statistics on live animals by age, sex and utilization generally are
not included in the list that follows, even though such breakdowns are
extremely desirable in terms of national statistics.
For each animal species FAO proposes that information be maintained on
changes in national herds during the year according to the following
equation: initial herd + animals born + imports of live animals -
exports of live animals - natural losses - slaughter = closing herd.
The purpose of this information is to present consistent and complete
data. So far, only a few countries have been able to compile
information in this format.
Livestock
Domesticated birds only. Data are expressed in thousands.
FAOSTAT
CODE |
COMMODITY
|
DEFINITIONS, COVERAGE, REMARKS
|
0866
|
CATTLE common ox (Bos taurus); zebu,
humped ox (Bos indicus); Asiatic ox (subgenus Bibos); Tibetan
yak (Poephagus grunniens)
|
Animals of the genus listed, regardless of age, sex, or purpose raised.
Data are expressed in number of heads.
|
0946
|
BUFFALOES Indian, Asiatic, pigmy, water buffalo (Bubalus
bubalus; B. arnee; B. depressicornis); African buffalo (genus
Syncerus); American bison (Bison bison); European bison (Bison
bonasus); beeffalo (cross between a bison and a domesticated beef animal)
|
See 0866. Excludes wild bisons and buffaloes.
|
0976
|
SHEEP Ovis spp.
|
See 0866. Includes Uriel, Argali, Bighorn, Karakul and Astrakhan.
|
1016
|
GOATS Capra spp.
|
See 0866. Includes Hircus, Ibex, Nubiana, Pyrenaica, Tibetana, Kashmir
and Angora.
|
1034
|
PIGS domestic pig (Sus domestica); wild boar (Sus scrofa)
|
See 0866. Excludes non-domesticated wild boars.
|
1057
|
CHICKENS fowl (Gallus domesticus); Guinea
fowl (Numida meleagris
|
|
1068
|
DUCKS Anas spp.
|
See 1057.
|
1072
|
GEESE Anser spp.
|
See 1057.
|
1079
|
TURKEYS Meleagris gallopavo
|
See 1057.
|
1083
|
PIGEONS AND OTHER BIRDS Including inter alia:
partridge (Alectoris rufa); pigeon (Columba livia); quail (Coturnis
spp.); turtle dove, pheasant, etc.
|
See 1057.
|
1096
|
HORSES Equus caballus
|
See 0866.
|
1107
|
ASSES Equus asinus
|
See 0866.
|
1110
|
MULES
|
Includes hinnies. Mules are offspring of a male ass and a female horse
(mare); a hinny is the offspring of a female ass and a male horse (stallion).
Both are
sterile. See 0866.
|
1126
|
CAMELS Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus);
Arabian camel (C. dromedarius)
|
See 0866.
|
1157
|
OTHER CAMELIDS Various species of
Lama: e.g. glama pacos (alpaca); peruana (llama); huanacos (guanaco>); vicugna (vicu兀)
|
See 0866.
|
1140
|
RABBITS Oryctolagus cuniculus
|
See 0866. May include domesticated hares (Lepus spp.). Data are
expressed in thousands.
|
1150
|
OTHER
RODENTS
|
See 0866. Includes only those used mainly for meat, e.g. Guinea pig.
Rodents used mainly for fur skins are included in Code 1169. Data are expressed in thousands.
|
1169
|
LIVE ANIMALS, NON- FOOD NES
|
Any animal not raised for food. External trade data also include wild
animals.
|
1171
|
LIVE
ANIMALS NES
|
Any other animal grown for meat, eggs, feathers and skins, e.g. ostrich,
antelope, deer, reindeer, chamois.
|
1181
|
BEEHIVES Apis mellifica; A. dorsata; A. florea;
A. indica
|
A beehive is an artificial habitation for bees.
|