The Scale of Factory Farming — Global Overview

Industrial animal agriculture accounts for the overwhelming majority of farmed animal lives and deaths globally, making it the single largest source of avoidable animal suffering.

Key Facts

Around 80 billion land animals are farmed and slaughtered for food each year
Around 70% are raised in intensive industrial conditions
An estimated 1-3 trillion fish are caught or farmed annually
Poultry farming accounts for over 90% of land animal slaughter globally
The number of wild land vertebrates is now dwarfed by livestock and farmed animals

Welfare Considerations

The scale of industrial animal agriculture is almost incomprehensible in terms of the number of sentient individuals affected simultaneously. At any moment, hundreds of billions of animals exist in conditions that welfare science describes as severely welfare-compromising. The moral significance of this scale means that even small percentage improvements in conditions — faster slaughter, better stunning, more enrichment — translate to enormous total welfare gains or losses at the population level.

What You Can Do

Reduce consumption of factory-farmed animal products as much as is feasible for your circumstances
Support political efforts to reform industrial animal agriculture through welfare legislation
Donate to animal welfare organisations working at the systemic level to reduce factory farming
Engage with institutional food providers — schools, hospitals, prisons — about welfare procurement standards