Food and Water

This study shows which countries eat the most meat

Butcher shop

The top 10 countries that ate the most meat in 2018. Image: Unsplash/Sebastian Holgado

Niall McCarthy
Data Journalist, Statista
  • A recent report by Statista shows which countries eat the most meat in 2018, in pounds.
  • America ranked as the number one meat eating country, with Australia taking second.
  • Argentina, a country famous for steak ranked in third.

Which countries have the biggest appetite for meat across the world? Among OECD countries, at least, the U.S. was in first place, followed by meat lovers in Australia in 2018, the latest year on record. Annually, the average American consumes 219 lbs (99 kg) of meat. Chicken makes up the largest share with almost 110 lbs, followed by of beef and veal (58 lbs) and pork (51 lbs). Argentina rank third and the country famous for steak across the globe easily beats the United States in beef consumption by eating 88 lbs per capita and year.

Have you read?
The countries that eat the most meat
The top 10 countries that ate the most meat, in pounds, in 2018. Image: Statista
Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

Sign up for free

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Stay up to date:

Future of Consumption

Related topics:
Food and WaterIndustries in Depth
Share:
The Big Picture
Explore and monitor how Future of Consumption is affecting economies, industries and global issues
World Economic Forum logo

Forum Stories newsletter

Bringing you weekly curated insights and analysis on the global issues that matter.

Subscribe today

Investing in water resilience is crucial – it is also an untapped opportunity

Marianne Kleiberg and Oliver Karius

December 16, 2024

1:52

These Chilean 'seed guardians' are bringing back forgotten food varieties

About us

Engage with us

  • Sign in
  • Partner with us
  • Become a member
  • Sign up for our press releases
  • Subscribe to our newsletters
  • Contact us

Quick links

Language editions

Privacy Policy & Terms of Service

Sitemap

© 2024 World Economic Forum