Animal welfare standards vary enormously between countries; understanding the global landscape enables targeted advocacy and supports international welfare diplomacy.
The global distribution of animal welfare improvement is highly uneven — while developed nations debate incremental improvements to already-regulated systems, billions of animals in low-welfare-legislation countries lack even basic protections. International trade creates leverage: welfare standards attached to import conditions create incentives for improvement in exporting countries. Global welfare advocacy benefits from strategic focus on interventions with the largest aggregate impact, which typically means engaging with the highest-production countries with the lowest current standards.