Cracking the FAOSTAT code ("the FAO kill numbers")

Updated 29 October 2018

How many animals are slaughtered each year? Stepping through the FAOSTAT maze to find the "FAO kill numbers".

Many animal rights/vegan websites have published the number of animals (divided by species) that are slaughtered each year (worldwide - or divided by country).




NOTE: You can also do this search in French or Spanish.

The FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations) statistics website "FAOSTAT" makes these numbers available to you quite easily and neatly presented - but the numbers can be a little hard to find (my opinion). Also there have been several versions of the FAOSTAT website existing in parallel (old and new versions) making it a bit tricky for the average animal rights activist (or whoever) to be sure they've found the right numbers. 

Long story short - follow these steps (they will lead you to the "FAO kill numbers"):

NOTE: Animals who live in the sea are not included. The word "to slaughter" is commonly understood as referring to only "land animals" (including chickens, ducks, turkey, and other birds).     

1) Use Firefox (with Google Chrome I cannot highlight the table at the end, but the rest works, too.) Go to FAOSTAT http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#home

On FAOSTAT select the following options:

2) Top left, click "Data"

3)
- Production à Select "Livestock Primary" (There is no direct link to this page.)
- top left: Regions à Select "World + (Total)"
- top right: Select "Producing Animals/Slaughtered"
- bottom left: items aggregated --> "Meat, Total > (List)"
-bottom right: Select "2016" [or whichever year is the latest available. As of October 2018, the latest availble is 2016.]
- very bottom left: Output Type: Select "Pivot"
- very bottom middle: Thousand Separator in 'Show Data': Select "Comma" [or the one you prefer] [Select "None" = neither comma nor period (= decimal point) if you want to copy the final chart into Excel and create a pie chart/other chart.]
- very bottom right: Output Formatting Options: Untick "Flags" and "Codes" - leave only "Units" ticked ["Units" = number of individual animals slaughtered]

4) Click "Show Data"

5) Select (highlight) the entire table shown. Copy and paste this table into a Word document (or something of the kind).

All
-World
-Producing Animals/Slaughtered
Meat, ass
Head
2,701,670
Meat, bird nes
1000 Head
58,781
Meat, buffalo
Head
26,220,078
Meat, camel
Head
3,129,069
Meat, cattle
Head
300,074,797
Meat, chicken
1000 Head
62,005,780
Meat, duck
1000 Head
2,858,773
Meat, goat
Head
444,168,894
Meat, goose and guinea fowl
1000 Head
662,823
Meat, horse
Head
4,803,585
Meat, mule
Head
513,739
Meat, other camelids
Head
952,926
Meat, other rodents
1000 Head
70,280
Meat, pig
Head
1,473,628,702
Meat, rabbit
1000 Head
1,068,470
Meat, sheep
Head
545,078,664
Meat, turkey
1000 Head
648,739
 

(nes = not elsewhere specified)

6) "1000 Head" means you have to multiply the given number by 1000.

Read, for example:
- about 300 million cattle per year (slaughtered worldwide)
- about 62 billion (6.2 x 10^10, or "62 thousand million") per year (slaughtered worldwide) 
(These numbers are for the year 2014, the latest global numbers available.)


Numbers of individual animals slaughtered worldwide (2014)
Meat, ass
2,701,670
Meat, bird nes
58,781,000
Meat, buffalo
26,220,078
Meat, camel
3,129,069
Meat, cattle
300,074,797
Meat, chicken
62,005,780,000
Meat, duck
2,858,773,000
Meat, goat
444,168,894
Meat, goose and guinea fowl
662,823,000
Meat, horse
4,803,585
Meat, mule
513,739
Meat, other camelids
952,926
Meat, other rodents
70,280,000
Meat, pig
1,473,628,702
Meat, rabbit
1,068,470,000
Meat, sheep
545,078,664
Meat, turkey
648,739,000

--------------------------------

Definitions (http://www.fao.org/es/faodef/fdef16e.htm)

"DEFINITION AND CLASSIFICATION OF COMMODITIES [!]
(Draft)
16. LIVESTOCK"

The term "LIVESTOCK" is used in a broad sense to cover all grown animals regardless of age, location or purpose of breeding. Non-domesticated animals are excluded under this definition unless they are kept or raised in captivity. Domestic animals included are large and small quadrupeds, poultry, insects (bees) and larvae of insects (silkworms).

Figures on livestock numbers should refer to live animals enumerated on a given day or on several consecutive days. The FAO practice is that figures for an indicated year relate to animals reported by countries for any day between October of the previous year and September of the year indicated.

Statistics on live animals by age, sex and utilization generally are not included in the list that follows, even though such breakdowns are extremely desirable in terms of national statistics.

For each animal species FAO proposes that information be maintained on changes in national herds during the year according to the following equation: initial herd + animals born + imports of live animals - exports of live animals - natural losses - slaughter = closing herd.

The purpose of this information is to present consistent and complete data. So far, only a few countries have been able to compile information in this format.




Livestock

Domesticated birds only. Data are expressed in thousands.
FAOSTAT
CODE
COMMODITY
DEFINITIONS, COVERAGE, REMARKS
0866
CATTLE common ox (Bos taurus); zebu, humped ox (Bos indicus); Asiatic ox (subgenus Bibos); Tibetan yak (Poephagus grunniens)
Animals of the genus listed, regardless of age, sex, or purpose raised. Data are expressed in number of heads.
0946
BUFFALOES Indian, Asiatic, pigmy, water buffalo (Bubalus bubalus; B. arnee; B. depressicornis); African buffalo (genus Syncerus); American bison (Bison bison); European bison (Bison bonasus); beeffalo (cross between a bison and a domesticated beef animal)
See 0866. Excludes wild bisons and buffaloes.
0976
SHEEP Ovis spp.
See 0866. Includes Uriel, Argali, Bighorn, Karakul and Astrakhan.
1016
GOATS Capra spp.
See 0866. Includes Hircus, Ibex, Nubiana, Pyrenaica, Tibetana, Kashmir and Angora.
1034
PIGS domestic pig (Sus domestica); wild boar (Sus scrofa)
See 0866. Excludes non-domesticated wild boars.
1057
CHICKENS fowl (Gallus domesticus); Guinea fowl (Numida meleagris

1068
DUCKS Anas spp.
See 1057.
1072
GEESE Anser spp.
See 1057.
1079
TURKEYS Meleagris gallopavo
See 1057.
1083
PIGEONS AND OTHER BIRDS Including inter alia: partridge (Alectoris rufa); pigeon (Columba livia); quail (Coturnis spp.); turtle dove, pheasant, etc.
See 1057.
1096
HORSES Equus caballus
See 0866.
1107
ASSES Equus asinus
See 0866.
1110
MULES
Includes hinnies. Mules are offspring of a male ass and a female horse (mare); a hinny is the offspring of a female ass and a male horse (stallion). Both are sterile. See 0866.
1126
CAMELS Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus); Arabian camel (C. dromedarius)
See 0866.
1157
OTHER CAMELIDS Various species of Lama: e.g. glama pacos (alpaca); peruana (llama); huanacos (guanaco>); vicugna (vicu)
See 0866.
1140
RABBITS Oryctolagus cuniculus
See 0866. May include domesticated hares (Lepus spp.). Data are expressed in thousands.
1150
OTHER RODENTS
See 0866. Includes only those used mainly for meat, e.g. Guinea pig. Rodents used mainly for fur skins are included in Code 1169. Data are expressed in thousands.
1169
LIVE ANIMALS, NON- FOOD NES
Any animal not raised for food. External trade data also include wild animals.
1171
LIVE ANIMALS NES
Any other animal grown for meat, eggs, feathers and skins, e.g. ostrich, antelope, deer, reindeer, chamois.
1181
BEEHIVES Apis mellifica; A. dorsata; A. florea; A. indica
A beehive is an artificial habitation for bees.

© FAO 1994