The majority of the world's livestock are kept by smallholder farmers in developing countries, where welfare challenges including disease burden, inadequate nutrition, and harsh handling are prevalent.
Global livestock welfare is overwhelmingly a developing country issue — the vast majority of the world's livestock, particularly working animals, are kept in systems with minimal formal welfare oversight. The welfare challenges are profound and interconnected with human poverty. Animals that are malnourished, diseased, and physically abused are also less productive, reinforcing the poverty that prevents welfare improvements. This creates powerful economic alignment between welfare improvement and development outcomes — healthier, better-treated animals are more productive, reducing the livestock-related poverty burden and providing resources for further welfare investment. Community animal health worker programs and NGO-delivered welfare and husbandry training demonstrate that low-cost interventions can produce substantial welfare improvements in resource-limited settings.