Animal Welfare Metrics: How We Measure Progress at Scale

Measuring animal welfare outcomes at population scale is essential for tracking progress and directing resources effectively. Advances in welfare metrics are transforming advocacy and policy.

Key Facts

The Animal Welfare Index (AWI) attempts to quantify welfare outcomes across species and production systems
Farm animal welfare metrics include mortality rates, antibiotic use, inspection outcomes, and animal-based indicators
The OECD includes animal welfare measures in agricultural policy assessments
Welfare metrics enable comparison across countries, farms, and time periods to track improvement
Corporate welfare commitment tracking tools enable consumer pressure to be directed effectively

Welfare Considerations

Measuring animal welfare at scale has been a persistent challenge for advocates and policy-makers. Without reliable metrics, it is difficult to assess whether interventions are working, compare welfare across different production systems, or hold companies accountable to welfare commitments. Advances in welfare science have produced validated animal-based indicators — measurable signs of good and poor welfare in the animals themselves — that enable standardised comparison. Technology including sensors, computer vision, and automated monitoring is enabling welfare data collection at previously impossible scales. Corporate welfare commitment tracking tools published by organisations like Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare provide transparency that enables consumer and investor pressure for improvement.

What You Can Do

Use the Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare to assess company welfare performance
Support organisations developing validated welfare metrics and assessment tools
Engage with corporate sustainability reports to assess the rigour of welfare reporting
Advocate for mandatory welfare outcome reporting in food industry regulation