In 2023, around 140 million tons of poultry meat were consumed worldwide, making it the most consumed type of meat globally. Pork was the second most consumed meat worldwide, followed by beef and veal. Leading consumers The per capita consumption of meat is forecast to grow in every part of the world by 2031. OECD countries had the highest per capita consumption of meat from 2019 to 2021, at 69.5 kilograms of retail weight per person. The world average per capita consumption is only about 34.1 kilograms. Shift towards meat substitutes Meat production is a significant greenhouse gas emitter and beef specifically emits more greenhouse gases than any other food product. Because of this and other climate change threats caused by meat production, such as deforestation, meat alternatives have been on the rise. It is projected that by 2040, 25 percent of all “meat” consumed will be vegan meat alternatives and only 40 percent of consumption will be from traditionally produced meat.

Attitudes to consuming cultivated meat, by participants’ diet.

Beef consumption in the United States reached a new high in 2021, when 30 billion pounds were consumed. This is an increase in consumption of about 8.7 percent compared to the previous year and the highest consumption recorded during the period under consideration.

United States beef production

The United States is the world’s top producer of beef and veal. In 2022, production exceeding 12.6 million metric tons. To keep up with the production demand, the U.S. was home to about 30 million beef cows in 2022, more than three times the number of dairy cows recorded that year.

The shift towards plant-based foods

There is a large trend among Generation Z consumers to adopt a more vegetarian or vegan diet. Over half of Gen Z consumers are mostly vegetarian, at a minimum, as of 2022. 21 percent, however, are completely vegan, meaning they eat no animal products at all. With this shift away from animal proteins, it is no surprise that the consumption of meat substitutes is expected to exponentially grow within the next several years. By 2027, U.S. meat substitute consumption is forecast to reach 292.5 million kilograms.

Dataset replaced by: http://data.europa.eu/euodp/data/dataset/4ff7rG2hOmlq2RF3yFPFRQ The collection "material deprivation" covers indicators relating to economic strain, durables, housing and environment of the dwelling. Severely materially deprived persons have living conditions severely constrained by a lack of resources, they experience at least 4 out of 9 following deprivations items: cannot afford i) to pay rent or utility bills, ii) keep home adequately warm, iii) face unexpected expenses, iv) eat meat, fish or a protein equivalent every second day, v) a week holiday away from home, vi) a car, vii) a washing machine, viii) a colour TV, or ix) a telephone.

In 2022, the region of Europe accounted for the highest retail sales of plant-based meat, valued at 3.3 billion U.S. dollars. In comparison, the APAC region had retail sales that year with 326 million dollars.