Source record
National diet and food-balance surveys (placeholder record)
FAO Food Balance Sheets, UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey, USDA Economic Research Service, Others (2024). Compiled by The Balance of Health.
- Last reviewed
- Reviewer
- Editorial placeholder
- Status
- sample
Sample data. The figures and sources on this page are demonstration records showing how evidence will be presented. They are approximate and have not yet been through our review process. Read about how we will verify evidence.
Key findings
- Per-person meat consumption ranges from under 5 kg a year in India to over 120 kg in the United States and Australia.
- Global meat consumption per person has roughly doubled since 1961 and continues to rise, driven by poultry.
Record
- Source type
- Government Statistics
- Study type
- Cross Sectional
- Topics
- Climate & emissions, Scale
- Geography
- Global, by country
- Funding & conflicts
- Not recorded.
- Source quality
- Moderate evidenceOfficial statistics with known biases; adequate for typical-intake defaults, not for individual diets.
Limitations
- Food balance sheets measure supply, not intake, and overstate what is eaten by the amount wasted.
- Dietary surveys under-report intake, especially of meat and fat.
Statistics we use from this source
- 23kg per person per yearMeat supply per person, 1961
- 26kg per person per yearMeat supply per person, 1970
- 30kg per person per yearMeat supply per person, 1980
- 33kg per person per yearMeat supply per person, 1990
- 37kg per person per yearMeat supply per person, 2000
- 41kg per person per yearMeat supply per person, 2010
- 43kg per person per yearMeat supply per person, 2020
Claims this source supports
EnvironmentStrong evidence
Reducing meat and dairy consumption, especially beef and lamb, is one of the largest ways an individual's diet can reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Yes. Animal foods produce most of food's emissions, and beef and lamb produce the most per gram of protein. Eating less of them lowers a diet's footprint substantially.