Tracking progress on animal welfare standards in livestock production globally.
Global livestock welfare progress over the past two decades has been real but deeply uneven. In high-income countries, legislative advances and corporate welfare commitments have driven measurable improvements in laying hen, pig, and veal calf welfare. In low-and middle-income countries, where the majority of farmed animals live, welfare legislation is often absent, weakly enforced, or overridden by economic pressures. Sustainable global progress requires approaches that work within economic realities — demonstrating that welfare improvements have production benefits, building local advocacy capacity, and developing appropriate welfare frameworks for different contexts and species.