Taking stock of progress in animal welfare globally and identifying the most impactful interventions for the decades ahead.
Animal welfare has made genuine and measurable progress over recent decades: cage-free transitions are underway for hundreds of millions of hens, gestation crate bans have been implemented across dozens of US states and many countries, and the scientific consensus on fish sentience has shifted welfare frameworks toward including aquatic animals. Yet the scale of animal use globally continues to grow faster than welfare improvements are implemented, meaning more animals face inadequate welfare today than at any point in history. The path forward requires both policy reform and cultural change: regulations that establish meaningful welfare floors, consumer choices that reward higher-welfare production, and investment in alternative proteins that reduce dependence on animal agriculture entirely. Progress is real and worth celebrating while maintaining urgency about the scale of work remaining.