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Daily Data InsightsMore than 80 billion land animals are slaughtered for meat every year

More than 80 billion land animals are slaughtered for meat every year

Stacked area chart showing the yearly number of land animals slaughtered for meat worldwide, from 1961 until 2022. The most common are chickens, ducks and pigs.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the number of land animals slaughtered for meat production has risen continuously for the past 60 years.

In 2022, the reported total reached 83 billion worldwide.

This number does not include additional deaths that occur during the production of meat and dairy, such as male baby chickens slaughtered in the egg industry, and other animals for which no data exists.

As the chart shows, the immense majority of these animals are chickens. Ducks and pigs are the second and third species most frequently slaughtered.

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Hundreds of millions of animals get killed for meat every day.

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