Animal welfare science and law have made remarkable progress over recent decades, and understanding this progress helps identify where concentrated effort will have the greatest future impact.
Global animal welfare has made genuine, documented progress over the past 50 years. Regulatory frameworks that did not exist a generation ago now protect billions of animals. Consumer movements have driven significant industry change. The science of animal sentience and welfare has advanced from speculative to rigorous. However, the scale of remaining welfare challenges — billions of fish, insects, and wild animals outside any welfare protections — dwarfs what has been achieved. The most important priorities for the next generation of welfare progress include fish welfare, wild animal welfare consideration, and strengthening enforcement of existing protections.