Farm Animal Populations Continue to Grow

Abstract

Farm animal populations continue to increase worldwide. The number of chickens raised for human consumption increased 169 percent between 1980 and 2010, from 7.2 billion to 19.4 billion.¹ (See Table 1.) During the same period, the population of goats and sheep reached 2 billion, and the cattle population grew 17 percent to reach 1.4 billion.² The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research estimates that by 2050 the global poultry population will grow to nearly 35 billion, the goat and sheep population to 2.7 billion, and the cattle population to 2.6 billion animals.³