International progress on pig welfare reform has been uneven, with meaningful legislative advances in some regions and continued high-confinement practices dominating global production.
Despite decades of advocacy, the global picture for pig welfare reform is one of patchy progress overshadowed by the sheer scale of production. The fundamental problem is economic: intensive confinement systems are cheaper, and in markets without welfare standards or consumer pressure, there is little incentive to change. Regulatory change has been most effective where it is backed by enforcement, consumer demand, and retail commitments in combination. The science is unambiguous — pigs are sentient, intelligent animals for whom the conditions of intensive production cause substantial chronic suffering. Closing the gap between scientific understanding and production reality remains the central challenge of farmed animal welfare.