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Countries that eat the most meat – ranked

Countries that eat the most meat – ranked

The countries that eat the most meat are causing significant damage to the planet. It’s time to take responsibility and change the habits of a lifetime

There is very little left to debate on the subject. Simply put, the world must reduce the amount of meat it eats. In 2011, the world population reached seven billion and it’s now around 8.1 billion.

Despite some signs the global population growth rate is slowing, the world’s total population continues to skyrocket. As things stand, the planet simply cannot support the current levels of meat consumption.

Now, I am neither vegetarian nor vegan. However, it has quickly become clear that I – along with the rest of the global population – must change the habits of a lifetime and move towards a more plant-based diet.

A recent BBC analysis suggests that the use of land for growing food and forestry accounts for around 25% of all global greenhouse gas emissions. That is essentially the same as from electricity and heating, and considerably more than from all the trains, planes and automobiles on the planet.

When you look more closely at the food sector’s environmental impact, you can see that meat and dairy are the major factors. Worldwide, livestock accounts for between 14.5 and 18% of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions. When it comes to other warming gases, agriculture is one of the leading contributors to both methane and nitrous oxide emissions.

Matt McGrath, BBC Environment correspondent

Livestock uses 83% of farmland and produces 60% of agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, it provides just 18% of the food calories and 37% of protein required by humans.

The maths is strikingly simple: eating meat makes little economic sense.

The arguments for reducing meat

In 2018, scientists behind the most comprehensive analysis of its kind announced that avoiding meat and dairy products is the single biggest way to reduce your environmental impact on the planet.

In 2019, a group of 37 scientists developed the planetary health diet, a ‘flexitarian’ and healthy diet founded on a sustainable food system. It requires a massive shift away from meat, particularly red which must be cut by half.

Reducing meat in our diets would drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, help to prevent species from going extinct, stop the expansion of farmland and preserve water. The change in diet would prevent the collapse of the natural world that all humanity depends on. 

countries that eat the most meat cattle deforestation
Frontpage/shutterstock Deforested rainforest in the Brazilian Amazon is used for cattle grazing

Further to the environmental argument is the debate around the ethical treatment of animals. The pain and suffering animals in the livestock industry endure is well documented. Historian, philosopher and bestselling author Yuval Noah Harari has suggested that industrial farming is one of the worst crimes in history.

Every year, in the UK alone, approximately 2.6 million cattle, 10 million pigs, 14.5 million sheep and lambs, 80 million fish and 950 million birds are slaughtered for human consumption. As the artificial meat industry advances, the final argument for farming animals is collapsing.

The suffering that is inherent in the production of meat can no longer be defended. Livestock farming will almost certainly be one of the things that future generations look back on as horrific, primitive and shameful.

Cows being fed through bars
Roman Melnyk/Shutterstock Industrial farming is inefficient and cruel

We’ve written before about how the world is not necessarily getting better. Basic education, literacy, democracy and vaccination may all be improving for humans, but for everything else – the millions of species that also call Earth their home – the world is getting worse.

Finally, there are health benefits of moving towards a flexitarian diet. Reducing meat in our diets will also lead to reducing diet-related diseases such as heart attacks, strokes and certain types of cancer. These are now the biggest killers in developed countries around the world.

who eats the most meat?

A report, prepared by 107 scientists for the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), says the West’s high consumption of meat and dairy produce is fuelling global warming.

The report, analysed by the BBC, says that switching to a more plant-based diet will help fight climate change. It also stresses that more people could be fed using less land if individuals cut down on their meat consumption.

“We’re not telling people to stop eating meat. In some places people have no other choice. But it’s obvious that in the West we’re eating far too much”.

Prof Pete Smith, Aberdeen University, UK

The responsibility for global meat reduction falls overwhelmingly on the shoulders of the world’s richer countries. When we compare consumption across different countries, typically, the richer the country or territory is, the more meat it consumes.

countries that eat the most meat map
OurWorldinData.org The 173 countries that eat the most meat in grams per person per day

It is not down to the size of a country’s population, but how rich that population is. The more money we have, the more meat we eat. For those in low-income countries, meat is still very much a luxury.

The countries that eat the most meat are the ones causing the most damage to the planet. It’s time for those of us who live in these countries to take responsibility and change our eating habits.

Countries with the lowest & highest meat consumption

The below table shows the countries with the highest average daily meat consumption and the lowest – or the most vegetarian countries in the world – measured in grams per person per day.

Least meat-consuming countries

  1. India, 10.10
  2. Bangladesh, 11.3
  3. Gambia, 17.6
  4. Sri Lanka, 17.8
  5. Ethiopia, 19.3
  6. Rwanda, 22.0
  7. Mozambique, 23.3
  8. Nigeria, 25.2
  9. Tanzania, 27.4
  10. Guinea, 28.5

Most meat-consuming countries

  1. Hong Kong SAR, China, 419.6
  2. Australia, 318.5
  3. USA, 315.5
  4. Argentina, 293.8
  5. Bahamas, 285.5
  6. Samoa, 280.0
  7. New Zealand, 277.8
  8. French Polynesia, 27.07
  9. St Lucia, 272.6
  10. Luxembourg, 270.0

Countries that eat the most meat – ranked

The data below is from Our World in Data and ranks the average daily meat consumption of 173 countries or territories, measured in grams per person per day. The data is from 2013, the most recent available.

Rank Country Grams
1 Hong Kong SAR, China 419.6
2 Australia 318.5
3 United States 315.5
4 Argentina 293.8
5 Bahamas 285.5
6 Samoa 280.0
7 New Zealand 277.8
8 French Polynesia 27.07
9 St Lucia 272.6
10 Luxembourg 270.0
11 Brazil 267.4
12 Bermuda 265.7
13 St Vincent & Grenadines 261.8
14 Israel 260.7
15 Spain 257.7
16 Iceland 255.7
17 Austria 249.0
18 Canada 248.7
19 Netherlands 245.2
20 Belarus 244.1
21 Portugal 242.1
22 France 237.7
23 Ireland 237.5
24 Malta 237.3
25 Brunei 235.6
26 Germany 235.5
27 Chile 234.8
28 Antigua & Barbuda 233.1
29 Montenegro 231.6
30 Italy 230.3
31 Kuwait 227.1
32 New Caledonia 225.7
33 Uruguay 225.5
34 Denmark 224.3
35 Sweden 223.5
36 United Kingdom 223.3
37 Mongolia 222.2
38 St Kitts & Nevis 216.7
39 Taiwan 212.9
40 Lithuania 212.8
41 Finland 212.4
42 Greece 209.9
43 Trinidad & Tobago 209.1
44 Poland 208.5
45 Cyprus 207.1
46 Russia 205.0
47 Czech Rep 199.6
48 Venezuela 199.4
49 Switzerland 198.2
50 Slovenia 195.6
51 Norway 194.2
52 Gabon 194.0
53 Belgium 191.6
54 Barbados 186.7
55 Kazakhstan 185.9
56 Panama 181.9
57 Bolivia 181.9
58 Croatia 181.7
59 Hungary 178.2
60 South Africa 177.9
61 Saudi Arabia 174.7
62 South Korea 174.3
63 Mexico 170.5
64 Albania 169.8
65 Oman 169.7
66 China 169.4
67 Jamaica 169.2
68 Latvia 167.4
70 Grenada 166.9
71 UAE 160.8
72 Estonia 160.4
73 Turkmenistan 156.4
74 Malaysia 154.1
75 Suriname 153.6
76 Vietnam 151.3
77 Ukraine 150.0
78 Ecuador 147.9
79 Cuba 147.8
80 Slovakia 147.6
81 Bulgaria 147.2
82 Paraguay 146.9
83 Mauritius 146.5
84 Serbia 146.1
85 Dominica 142.3
86 Colombia 139.2
87 Belize 138.3
88 Costa Rica 137.0
89 Japan 135.5
90 Romania 135.4
91 Dominican Rep 129.3
92 Armenia 125.3
93 Jordan 122.7
94 Guyana 120.0
95 Vanuatu 111.7
96 Moldova 109.2
97 Lebanon 108.6
98 Fiji 108.5
99 Myanmar 106.9
100 Macedonia 104.6
101 Timor-Leste 101.9
102 Angola 99.0
103 Uzbekistan 97.4
104 Turkey 96.2
105 Philippines 96.2
106 Morocco 96.0
107 Tajikistan 95.5
108 Honduras 93.2
109 Iran 90.1
110 Maldives 88.8
111 Bosnia & Herzegovina 88.3
112 Kiribati 88.2
113 Kyrgyzstan 87.9
114 Azerbaijan 85.2
115 Egypt 83.5
116 Mauritania 83.2
117 Tunisia 83.0
118 Nicaragua 81.8
119 Central African Rep 80.7
120 Congo 80.5
121 Thailand 80.4
122 El Salvador 79.6
123 Botswana 79.3
124 Georgia 76.7
125 Guatemala 75.1
126 Sudan 74.1
127 Swaziland 70.9
128 Benin 69.0
129 Namibia 68.4
130 Mali 67.8
131 Lesotho 67.4
132 Peru 61.7
133 Algeria 57.7
134 Laos 57.7
135 Yemen 56.0
136 Iraq 53.9
137 Djibouti 50.3
138 Zimbabwe 50.0
139 Haiti 49.3
140 Ghana 47.8
141 Niger 47.1
142 Pakistan 45.0
143 Guinea-Bissau 44.7
144 Liberia 44.7
145 Sao Tome & Principe 44.1
146 Senegal 43.2
147 Cote d’Ivoire 41.1
148 Kenya 39.2
149 Madagascar 38.7
150 North Korea 38.3
151 Solomon Islands 37.8
152 Indonesia 37.1
153 Cameroon 36.6
154 Cambodia 36.2
155 Zambia 35.7
156 Afghanistan 33.8
157 Nepal 33.5
158 Togo 33.2
159 Uganda 33.2
160 Chad 32.9
161 Burkina Faso 32.1
162 Malawi 30.8
163 Sierra Leone 29.3
164 Guinea 28.5
165 Tanzania 27.4
166 Nigeria 25.2
167 Mozambique 23.3
168 Rwanda 22.0
169 Ethiopia 19.3
170 Sri Lanka 17.8
171 Gambia 17.6
172 Bangladesh 11.3
173 India 10.1


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Lead image: Yulia Grigoryeva/Shutterstock

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