An assessment of global animal welfare progress including legislative advances, corporate commitments, shifting cultural attitudes, and the significant challenges remaining.
Global animal welfare is in a paradoxical state: genuine progress on multiple fronts coexists with expanding suffering at global scale. Legislative advances in Europe and expanding corporate commitments in North America and globally represent real improvements that have benefited billions of animals. Cultural attitudes toward animal welfare are shifting — consumer concern for animal welfare has grown substantially in high-income countries, and the scientific consensus on animal sentience now underpins stronger regulatory approaches. Yet simultaneously, factory farming is expanding rapidly in Asia, Africa, and Latin America as rising incomes drive increased meat demand in populations with minimal welfare protections for farm animals. The net global picture is complex: welfare conditions are improving for animals in high-income country supply chains while potentially deteriorating in aggregate as production shifts to regions with weaker standards. The most important frontier for animal welfare progress may therefore be in influencing food system development in rapidly industrializing countries — before factory farming becomes as entrenched as it is in Europe and North America, making reform far more difficult.