Number of Animals Died per American Carnivore
In all, 63 billion animals died to feed Americans in 2011.
Over a lifetime, this amounts to 16,000 animals per meat eater.
See changes over time 2000-2012.
For details, see:
- Summary: Average and Total Number of Animals Who Died to Feed Americans in 2011
- Calculations and Sources: US Animals Killed for Food 2000-2011
- Calculations and Sources: Sea Animal Mortality for US Consumption 2011
What these numbers include
These numbers are not derived from slaughter figures (except for rabbits, included in the summary). They include deaths from all causes, including: disease, injury, culling, bycatch, discarded male egg-type chickens, production of food that is discarded and not consumed, fish used to feed other fish on fish farms, etc.
These numbers are global. They include deaths abroad for imported animal products, and exclude US deaths for exported animal products.
These numbers only include deaths after birth/hatching. Fetal deaths are not considered.
Sources
Land animal numbers are all based on US government statistics: U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, and the U.S. Census Bureau. The only exceptions are U.N. statistics on duck imports/exports, and independent polls of the numbers of vegetarians and vegans.
Sea animal numbers are based on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data, but are converted to final values based on a wide variety of sources.
Calculated by Noam Mohr, Nov 2012, noammohr@gmail.com